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diff --git a/41954-8.txt b/41954-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 681d6da..0000000 --- a/41954-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3166 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wheel of Fortune, by Mahatma Gandhi - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: The Wheel of Fortune - -Author: Mahatma Gandhi - -Commentator: Dwijendranath Tagore - -Release Date: January 31, 2013 [EBook #41954] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE *** - - - - -Produced by sp1nd, ewkent and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - -TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: - - -The author often uses the South Asian numbering system where, besides -the three least significant digits of the integer part, a comma divides -every two rather than every three digits (for example 10,00,000 instead -of 1,000,000). Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. -Inconsistencies in hyphenation and spelling have not been corrected. A -list of corrections to the text can be found at the end of the document. - - - - - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - - - - - Freedom's Battle - Swaraj in One Year - Indian Home Rule - - Mahatma Gandhi - His Life writings and speeches - Foreword by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu - 3rd Edition. Revised and Enlarged - - - - - THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - - BY - MAHATMA GANDHI - - Appreciation by - DWIJENDRANATH TAGORE - - - MADRAS - GANESH & CO. - 1922 - - - - - THE CAMBRIDGE - PRESS, MADRAS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - Page. - Dawn of a New Era ix - - SWADESHI - Non-Co-operation Programme 1 - Khilafat and Swadeshi 5 - The Secret of Swaraj 8 - Swadeshi 16 - Swadeshi in the Punjab 26 - Swadeshi Stores 31 - Indian Economics 34 - How to Boycott Foreign Cloth 44 - - SPINNING - The Music of the Spinning Wheel 53 - "Handlooms or Powermills?" 58 - Hand-spinning and Hand-weaving 64 - Hand-spinning again 71 - A Plea for Spinning 76 - The Duty of Spinning 80 - The Duty of Spinning 83 - The Doctrine of Charka 85 - The Message of the Charka 87 - The Charka in the Gita 93 - Spinning as Famine Relief 97 - The Potency of the Spinning Wheel 107 - The Wheel of Fortune 110 - The Spinning Wheel 116 - - APPENDICES - I. A Model Weaving-school 123 - Spinning Department 133 - The Advantage of the thin spindle 136 - Hand-Looms 140 - What Kind of Loom? 144 - Sizing Handspun Yarn 146 - II. The Wheel of Fortune 156 - - - - -DAWN OF A NEW ERA - - -Many critics and some friends of Mahatma Gandhi have found fault with -his desire to introduce simpler methods of spinning and weaving and to -do away with much of the complicated machinery of Modern Civilisation. -The reason why they object is that they fear such methods mean not -progress towards a higher state but relapse into a primitive condition -of civilisation or even of barbarism. His denunciation of the age of -machinery and of the Industrial System has been criticised by many as -the ravings of a visionary and of one who is merely an impracticable -idealist. This is a strange criticism to come from those who give their -allegiance to a form of civilisation or 'Culture' which has led to the -unprecedented horrors of the late European War and the century-old -disgraces of the Industrial System. Is this present modern civilisation -so very desirable that we should wish it to continue in perpetuity? -Every civilisation in the History of Man has reached a certain point -after which there has been one possibility only for it and that was -absolute relapse into semi-darkness in order to give place to a new and -higher civilisation. The common starting point of all the civilisations -is a kind of night-time. In order that the Babylonian (or Despotic) -Civilisation might give way to the Roman (or Heroic), and the Roman give -way to the Modern (or Intellectual) Civilisation, it was necessary for -each in turn to sink completely into this common night-time. Without -this entire destruction of the ancient structure, there would have been -only a patchwork of the old, and not a harmonious building of the New. -As Christ said: "Ye cannot put old wine into new bottles." The debris of -the Past has to be cleared away in order to make way for the structure -of the Future. Now with regard to Modern Civilisation, all the signs of -the times show that it has failed lamentably and is gradually tottering -to a dishonoured grave. Why make any attempts to prop up what Nature so -evidently has decided to throw on the scrap-heap? Such attempts are -contrary to the teaching of past history. But anything, which tends to -reach the common roots of all civilisations, should be encouraged. In -order that the spiritual civilisation of the Future may have a real -chance of growing in an atmosphere congenial to it, Mahatma Gandhi's -demonstration of the right path should be welcomed. His emphasis on -simplicity of life and on the simplification of the machinery of living -must be realised as a supremely essential condition of the coming of the -new Era. In the civilisation of the Future, an Era of natural harmonious -living will be inaugurated, and artificial, luxurious and pompous living -will be entirely rooted out. - -Simplicity of life being a condition of spiritual perfection, we may -look forward to an Era of Civilisation in the Future, greatly superior -to all the civilisations of the Past, if only we accept simplicity of -life as the best method of living. The failure and decline of Western -or Modern Civilisation need not alarm us; for the experience of History -is full of similar declines of once powerful cultures. When Babylonian -Civilisation had reached its height, it had to come down to what we may -term the zero-point of all civilisation from which Roman Civilisation -had made its start. But when Roman Civilisation had reached its zenith, -it was much superior to the zenith Civilisation of Babylon, as the -zenith Babylonian was superior to the zero-civilisation. And so also of -full-fledged Modern Civilisation. We may say that until it returns to -the common zero-point, there is no hope of a full and perfect -development of a civilisation moulded by spiritual ideals. - -Let critics of Mahatma Gandhi then look to History before they condemn -him for trying to bring this much belauded Modern Civilisation down to -the common starting point of all great civilisations. We are at the dawn -of a New Era, and Mahatma Gandhi is the one leader who shows to us the -right path. He at least is watering the roots, while all others who try -to keep alive the Civilisation of the Western nations are like foolish -gardeners who lavish water on the withering leaves of a dying tree and -never think of watering its roots. - - - - -SWADESHI - - - - -THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - - - - -BOYCOTT OF GOODS - -_vs._ - -NON-CO-OPERATION PROGRAMME - - -Mr. Kasturi Ranga Aiyangar was pleased to answer my argument in favour -of the details of the first stage of non-co-operation that I had the -honour of explaining at the great Madras Beach meeting. He expressed his -dissent from all but the renunciation of titles. He suggested boycott of -foreign goods in the place of the other items. Even at the risk of -repeating arguments familiar to the readers of "Young India", I must -deal with the question of boycott which has now received the imprimatur -of so able a publicist as Mr. Kasturi Ranga Aiyangar. - -In the first place, boycott of British goods has been conceived as a -punishment and can have no place in non-co-operation which is conceived -in a spirit of self-sacrifice and is a matter of sacred duty. - -Secondly, any measure of punishment must be swift, certain and adequate -for the effect intended to be produced. Resorted to by individuals, -therefore, boycott is ineffectual, for, it can give no satisfaction -unless it is productive of effect, whereas every act of non-co-operation -is its own satisfaction. - -Thirdly, boycott of British goods is thoroughly unpractical, for, it -involves sacrifice of their millions by millionaires. It is in my -opinion infinitely more difficult for a merchant to sacrifice his -millions than for a lawyer to suspend his practice or for a title-holder -to give up his title or for a parent to sacrifice, if need be, the -literary instruction of his children. Add to this the important fact -that merchants have only lately begun to interest themselves in -politics. They are therefore yet timid and cautious. But the class, to -which the first stage of non-co-operation is intended to appeal, is the -political class which has devoted years to politics and is not mentally -unprepared for communal sacrifice. - -Boycott of British goods to be effective must be taken up by the whole -country at once or not at all. It is like a siege. You can carry out a -siege only when you have the requisite men and instruments of -destruction. One man scratching a wall with his finger nails may hurt -his fingers but will produce no effect upon the walls. One title-holder -giving up his title has the supreme satisfaction of having washed his -hands clean of the guilt of the donor and is unaffected by the refusal -of his fellows to give up theirs. The motive of boycott being punitive -lacks the inherent practicability of non-co-operation. The spirit of -punishment is a sign of weakness. A strengthening of that spirit will -retard the process of regeneration. The spirit of sacrifice is a -determination to rid ourselves of our weakness. It is therefore an -invigorating and purifying process and is therefore also calculated to -do good both to us and to those who evoke the spirit of sacrifice in us. -Above all, if India has a mission of her own, she will not fulfil it by -copying the doubtful example of the West and making even her sacrifice -materialistically utilitarian instead of offering a sacrifice spotless -and pleasing even in the sight of God. - - - - -KHILAFAT AND SWADESHI - - -It was not without much misgiving that I consented to include Swadeshi -as a plank in non-co-operation. But Maulana Hasrat Mohani by his sheer -earnestness bore me down. I fear however that his reasons for including -Swadeshi are different from mine. He is a protagonist of boycott of -British goods, I cannot reconcile myself to the doctrine as I have -explained elsewhere in this issue. But having failed to popularise -boycott, Mohani Saheb has accepted Swadeshi as the lesser good. It is -however necessary for me to explain how I have come to include Swadeshi -in the programme of non-co-operation. - -Non-co-operation is nothing but discipline in self-sacrifice. And I -believe that a nation that is capable of limitless sacrifice is capable -of rising to limitless heights. The purer the sacrifice the quicker the -progress. Swadeshi offers every man, woman and child an occasion to -make a beginning in self-sacrifice of a pure type. It therefore presents -an opportunity for testing our capacity for sacrifice. It is the measure -for gauging the depth of national feeling on the Khilafat wrong. Does -the nation feel sufficiently to move it to go through even the -preliminary process of sacrifice? Will the nation revise its taste for -the Japanese silk, the Manchester calico or the French lace and find all -its decoration out of hand-spun and hand-woven cloth, i.e., Khadi? If -crores of people will refuse to wear or use foreign cloth and be -satisfied with the simple cloth that we can produce in our homes, it -will be proof of our organising ability, energy, co-operation and -self-sacrifice that will enable us to secure all we need. It will be a -striking demonstration of national solidarity. - -Such a consummation cannot be achieved for the mere wish. It cannot be -achieved by one man, no matter how capable and sincere he may be. It -cannot be achieved by dotting India with Swadeshi stores. It can only be -achieved by new production and judicious distribution. Production means -lacs of women spinning in their own homes. This requires earnest men to -be engaged in honestly distributing carded cotton and collecting yarn -and paying for it. It means manufacture of thousands of spinning wheels. -It means inducing the hereditary weavers to return to their noble -calling and distributing home-spun yarn amongst them and selling their -manufactures. It is thus only as an energising agent that I can think of -Swadeshi as a plank in non-co-operation. But it is not to be despised in -that capacity. And I hope that every worker for the cause, even if he -can do nothing else, will have done something if he can advance Swadeshi -first by increasing production and then distribution. He would be simply -moving in a circle if he is satisfied with distributing cloth that is -already being manufactured in India. - - - - -THE SECRET OF SWARAJ - - -The Congress resolution has rightly emphasised the importance of -Swadeshi and the amount of greater sacrifice by merchants. - -India cannot be free so long as India voluntarily encourages or -tolerates the economic drain which has been going on for the past -century and a half. Boycott of foreign goods means no more and no less -than boycott of foreign cloth. Foreign cloth constitutes the largest -drain voluntarily permitted by us. It means sixty crores of rupees -annually paid by us for piece-goods. If India could make a successful -effort to stop that drain, she can gain Swaraj by that one act. - -India was enslaved for satisfying the greed of the foreign cloth -manufacturer. When the East India Company came in, we were able to -manufacture all the cloth we needed, and more for export. By processes -that need not be described here, India has become practically wholly -dependent upon foreign manufacture for her clothing. - -But we ought not to be dependent. India has the ability to manufacture -all her cloth if her children will work for it. Fortunately India has -yet enough weavers to supplement the out-turn of her mills. The mills do -not and cannot immediately manufacture all the cloth we want. The reader -may not know that, even at the present moment, the weavers weave more -cloth than the mills. But the latter weave five crore yards of fine -foreign counts, equal to forty crore yards of coarser counts. The way to -carry out a successful boycott of foreign cloth is to increase the -out-put of yarn. And this can only be done by hand-spinning. - -To bring about such a boycott, it is necessary for our merchants to stop -all foreign importation, and to sell out, even at a loss, all foreign -cloth already stocked in India, preferably to foreign buyers. They must -cease to speculate in cotton, and keep all the cotton required for home -use. They must stop purchasing all foreign cotton. - -The mill-owners should work their mills not for their profits but as a -national trust and therefore cease to spin finer counts, and weave only -for the home market. - -The householder has to revise his or her ideas of fashion and, at least -for the time being, suspend the use of fine garments which are not -always worn to cover the body. He should train himself to see art and -beauty in the spotlessly white _khaddar_ and to appreciate its soft -unevenness. The householder must learn to use cloth as a miser uses his -hoard. - -And even when the householders have revised their tastes about dress, -somebody will have to spin yarn for the weavers. This can only be done -by every one spinning during spare hours either for love or money. - -We are engaged in a spiritual war. We are not living in normal times. -Normal activities are always suspended in abnormal times. And if we are -out to gain _Swaraj_ in a year's time, it means that we must -concentrate upon our goal to the exclusion of every thing else. I -therefore venture to suggest to the students all over India to suspend -their normal studies for one year and devote their time to the -manufacture of yarn by hand-spinning. It will be their greatest act of -service to the motherland, and their most natural contribution to the -attainment of _Swaraj_. During the late war our rulers attempted to turn -every factory into an arsenal for turning out bullets of lead. During -this war of ours, I suggest every national school and college being -turned into a factory for preparing cones of yarns for the nation. The -students will lose nothing by the occupation: they will gain a kingdom -here and hereafter. There is a famine of cloth in India. To assist in -removing this dearth is surely an act of merit. If it is sinful to use -foreign yarn, it is a virtue to manufacture more Swadeshi yarn in order -to enable us to cope with the want that would be created by the disuse -of foreign yarn. - -The obvious question asked would be, if it is so necessary to -manufacture yarn, why not pay every poor person to do so? The answer is -that hand spinning is not, and never was, a calling like weaving, -carpentry, etc. Under the pre-British economy of India, spinning was an -honourable and leisurely occupation for the women of India. It is -difficult to revive the art among the women in the time at our disposal. -But it is incredibly simple and easy for the school-goers to respond to -the nation's call. Let no one decry the work as being derogatory to the -dignity of man or students. It was an art confined to the women of India -because the latter had more leisure. And being graceful, musical, and as -it did not involve any great exertion, it had become the monopoly of -women. But it is certainly as graceful for either sex as is music for -instance. In hand-spinning is hidden the protection of women's virtue, -the insurance against famine, and the cheapening of prices. In it is -hidden the secret of _Swaraj_. The revival of hand spinning is the least -penance we must do for the sin of our forefathers in having succumbed -to the satanic influences of the foreign manufacturer. - -The school-goers will restore hand-spinning to its respectable status. -They will hasten the process of making _Khaddar_ fashionable. For no -mother, or father, worth the name will refuse to wear cloth made out of -yarn spun by their children. And the scholars' practical recognition of -art will compel the attention of the weavers of India. If we are to wean -the Punjabi from the calling not of a soldier but of the murderer of -innocent and free people of other lands, we must give back to him the -occupation of weaving. The race of the peaceful Julahis of the Punjab is -all but extinct. It is for the scholars of the Punjab to make it -possible for the Punjabi weaver to return to his innocent calling. - -I hope to show in a future issue how easy it is to introduce this change -in the schools and how quickly, on these terms, we can nationalise our -schools and colleges. Everywhere the students have asked me what new -things I would introduce into our nationalised schools. I have -invariably told them I would certainly introduce spinning. I feel, so -much more clearly than ever before that during the transition period, we -must devote exclusive attention to spinning and certain other things of -immediate national use, so as to make up for past neglect. And the -students will be better able and equipped to enter upon the new course -of studies. - -Do I want to put back the hand of the clock of progress? Do I want to -replace the mills by hand-spinning and hand-weaving? Do I want to -replace the railway by the country cart? Do I want to destroy machinery -altogether? These questions have been asked by some journalists and -public men. My answer is: I would not weep over the disappearance of -machinery or consider it a calamity. But I have no design upon machinery -as such. What I want to do at the present moment is to supplement the -production of yarn and cloth through our mills, save the millions we -send out of India, and distribute them in our cottages. This I cannot do -unless and until the nation is prepared to devote its leisure hours to -hand-spinning. To that end we must adopt the methods I have ventured to -suggest for popularising spinning as a duty rather than as a means of -livelihood. - - - - -SWADESHI - - -In criticising my article entitled 'The Music of the Spinning Wheel!' -the "Leader" the other day attributed to me the ideas that I have never -entertained. And it is necessary for the purpose of understanding the -true value of Swadeshi, to correct some of the current fallacies. The -_Leader_ considers that I am putting back the hands of the clock of -progress by attempting to replace mill-made cloth and mill-spun yarn by -hand-woven and hand-spun yarn. Now, I am making no such attempt at all. -I have no quarrel with the mills. My views are incredibly simple. India -requires nearly 13 yards of cloth per head per year. She produces, I -believe, less than half the amount. India grows all the cotton she -needs. She exports several million bales of cotton to Japan and -Lancashire and receives much of it back in manufactured calico although -she is capable of producing all the cloth and all the yarn necessary for -supplying her wants by hand-weaving and hand-spinning. India needs to -supplement her main occupation, agriculture, with some other employment. -Hand-spinning is the only such employment for millions. It was the -national employment a century ago. It is not true to say that economic -pressure and modern machinery destroyed hand-spinning and hand-weaving. -This great industry was destroyed or almost destroyed by extraordinary -and immoral means adopted by the East India Company. This national -industry is capable of being revived by exertion and a change in the -national taste without damaging the mill industry. Increase of mills is -no present remedy for supplying the deficiency. The difficulty can be -easily supplied only by hand-spinning and hand-weaving. If this -employment were revived, it would prevent sixty million rupees from -being annually drained from the country and distribute the amount among -lacs of poor women in their own cottages. I therefore consider Swadeshi -as an automatic, though partial, solution of the problem of India's -grinding poverty. It also constitutes a ready-made insurance policy in -times of scarcity of rain. - -But two things are needful to bring about the needed revival--to create -a taste for Khaddar and to provide an organisation for the distribution -of carded cotton and collection of yarn against payment. - -In one year, by the silent labour of a few men, several thousand rupees -have been distributed in Gujarat among several thousand poor women who -are glad enough to earn a few pice per day to buy milk for their -children, etc. - -The argument does not apply to the sugar industry as the "Leader" has -attempted. There is not sufficient cane grown in India to supply India's -wants. Sugar was never a national and supplementary industry. Foreign -sugar has not supplanted Indian sugar. India's wants of sugar have grown -and she therefore imports more sugar. But this importation does not -institute a drain in the sense in which importation of foreign cloth -does. Production of more sugar means more scientific agriculture, more -and better machinery for crushing and refining. The sugar industry -therefore stands on a different platform. Swadeshi in sugar is -desirable, Swadeshi in cloth is an urgent necessity. - -The Swadeshi propaganda has been going on in a more or less organised -manner now for the past eighteen months. Some of its results are -surprising and gratifying. It has taken a fairly firm hold in the -Punjab, Madras and the Bombay Presidency. Hand spinning and hand-weaving -are steadily increasing in these parts. Several thousand rupees have -been distributed in homes where women never did any work before. And if -more work of this kind has not been done, it is due to want of workers. - -This is however written more to note the mistakes of the past than to -sum up the bright side. My observations lead me to the conclusion that -whilst the inauguration of the three vows and Swadeshi stores have -greatly stimulated the Swadeshi spirit, it is no longer possible to -advocate the taking of any of the three vows or the opening of new -Swadeshi stores for the sale of mill-made cloth. The result of the -propaganda has been to send up the prices of yarn and cloth rather than -increase production. It is clear that the purpose of Swadeshi is not -served until the quantity of yarn and cloth produced is increased. The -gain therefore is merely moral and not material. The people have begun -to perceive the desirability of wearing only Swadeshi cloth if the real -interest of the country is to be advanced. - -But it is clear that we must take practical steps for meeting the -growing demand for Swadeshi cloth. One way, no doubt, is to increase the -mills. But it is obvious that capitalists do not need popular -encouragement. They know that India needs much more cloth than is -manufactured by our mills. But mills do not spring up like mushrooms. It -is a matter of getting machinery from outside, let alone the difficulty -of getting labour. And after all, India cannot become truly and -economically independent so long as she must rely on the supply of -machinery from outside for the manufacture of her cloth. - -The cleanest and the most popular form of Swadeshi, therefore, is to -stimulate hand-spinning and hand-weaving and to arrange for a judicious -distribution of yarn and cloth so manufactured. With a little talent and -a little industry this thing is easy. Even as each home cooks its own -food without difficulty, so may each home weave its own yarn. And just -as in spite of every home having its own kitchen, restaurants continue -to flourish, so will mills continue to supply our additional wants. But -even as because of our private kitchens we would not starve if every -restaurant was through some accident closed, so would we, by reason of -domestic spinning, not have to be naked even if every mill, by a -blockade from the west, had to stop work. Not long ago, we knew this -secret of our own economic independence and it is possible for us to -regain that independence by a little effort, a little organising agency -and a little sacrifice. - -Therefore true Swadeshi consists in introducing the spinning wheel in -every household and every household spinning its own yarn. Many a -Punjabi woman does it to-day. And though we may not supply our own cloth -entirely, we shall be saving yearly crores of rupees. In any event there -is no other Swadeshi than increased manufacture by hand-spinning and -hand-weaving. Whether we take up hand-spinning and hand-weaving or we do -not, it is at least necessary to understand what true Swadeshi is. - -_How to kill swadeshi_--We are familiar with the official ban put upon -the _Khadi_ cap in various parts of India. In Bihar, I heard that a -magistrate actually sent hawkers to sell foreign cloth. Mr. Painter of -Dharwar fame has gone one better, and has issued an official circular in -which he says: - -"All officers subordinate to the Collector and District Magistrate are -desired to take steps to make people realise, that in as much as India -produces less than her population requires, a boycott of foreign cloth -and its destruction or export must inevitably lead to a serious rise in -prices, which may lead to a serious disorder and looting, and that these -consequences will be the result, not of any action on the part of -Government but of Mr. Gandhi's campaign." - -In two other paragraphs means are indicated of combating the Swadeshi -propaganda _i.e._ by holding meetings, and by dealers who are opposed to -boycott attending the Collector's office at stated hours. The Madras -Government have issued a still more pedantic circular. The meaning of -these circulars is obvious. Pressure is to be put upon the dealers and -others not to countenance boycott. The subordinate officials will take -liberties which the authors of circulars may not even have contemplated. -Fortunately for the country, these threats now produce little or no -impression upon the public, and the Swadeshi movement will go on in the -teeth of the official opposition, be it secret or open, unscrupulous or -honourable. - -The officials are so ignorant and obstinate, that they will not take the -only effective course for avoiding the feared 'disorders and looting,' -_viz._ making common cause with the public and stimulating production. -Instead of recognising the agitation against foreign cloth as desirable -and necessary, they regard it as an evil to be put down. And then it is -complained, that I call a system which seeks to thwart healthy public -agitation, satanic. Why should there be any dearth of indigenous cloth? -Is there not enough cotton in India? Are there not enough men and women -who can spin and weave? Is it not possible to manufacture all the -required number of wheels in a few days? Why should not each home -manufacture its own cloth, even as it cooks its own food? Is it not -enough in times of famine to distribute uncooked grain among the -famine-striken? Why should it not be enough to distribute raw cotton -among those who need clothing? Why this hypocritical or false alarm -about the dearth of cloth, when it is possible in India to manufacture -enough for India's needs in a month even without the aid of the mills? -The people have been purposely or ignorantly kept in the dark hitherto. -They have been wrongly taught to believe, that all the cloth needed -cannot be manufactured in India's homes as of yore. They have been -figuratively amputated and then made to rely upon foreign or mill-made -cloth. I wish the people concerned will give the only dignified answer -possible to these circulars. They will forthwith burn or send out all -their foreign cloth, and courageously make up their minds to spin and -weave for their own requirements. It is incredibly easy for every one -who is not an idler. - - _Y. I.--18th Aug, 1920._ - - - - -SWADESHI IN THE PUNJAB - - -The Joint Secretaries of the Bharat Stri Maha Mandal, Punjab Branch, -send a report of the Swadeshi activities of Shrimati Saraladevi -Chaudhrani ever since her return to Lahore from Bombay. Miss Roy and -Mrs. Roshandal, the Secretaries, state that meetings of women were held -respectively on the 23rd, 24th and 25th June at three different places -in Lahore. All the meetings were attended by hundreds of women who were -deeply interested in what Shrimati Saraladevi had to say. The burden of -her discourses was India's deep poverty. She traced the causes and -proved that our poverty was primarily due to the abandonment of Swadeshi -by the people. The remedy therefore lay in reverting to Swadeshi. - -Saraladevi herself writes to say that her Khaddar Sari impressed her -audiences more than her speeches, and her songs came next, her speeches -last. The good ladies of Lahore flocked round her and felt her coarse -but beautifully white Sari and admired it. Some took pity on her that -she who only the other day was dressed in costly thin silk Saris now -decked herself in hand-woven Swadeshi Khaddar. Saraladevi wanted no pity -and retorted that their thin foreign scarves lay heavier on their -shoulders with the weight of their helpless dependence on foreign -manufacture whereas her coarse Khaddar lay light as a feather on her -body with the joy of the knowledge that she was free because she wore -garments in the manufacture of which her sisters and her brothers had -laboured. This statement so pleased her audience that most of the women -present resolved to discard foreign clothes. Saraladevi has now been -charged by these ladies to open a shop where they could buy Swadeshi -goods. She has since addressed more audiences. She spoke at the District -Conference at Sialkot and to a meeting exclusively devoted to ladies -numbering over one thousand. I hope that the men of Punjab will help -Saraladevi in her self-imposed mission. They may harness her talents and -her willingness in founding Swadeshi Sabha and organising Swadeshi -propaganda on a sound basis. Both men and money are needed to make the -work a success. - -Swadeshi is more than reforms. There is much waste over reforms. There -is none in Swadeshi. Every yard of yarn spun is so much labour well -spent and so much wealth added to the national treasury. Every drop -counts. Swadeshi spells first production and then distribution. -Distribution without production means the raising of prices without any -corresponding benefit. For to-day demand exceeds the supply. If we will -not manufacture more cloth, more foreign imports must continue a painful -and sinful necessity. - -Punjab has a great opportunity. Punjab grows splendid cotton. The art of -spinning has not yet died out. Almost every Punjabi woman knows it. This -sacred haunt of the Rishis of old has thousands of weavers. Only the -leaders need to have faith in their women and themselves. When -Saraladevi wrote to me that she might want goods from Bombay, I felt -hurt. The Punjab has all the time and all the labour and the material -necessary for producing her own cloth. She has brave merchants. She has -more than enough capital. She has brains. Has she the will? She can -organise her own Swadeshi in less than a year, if the leaders will work -at this great cause. It is playing with Swadeshi for the Punjab to have -to import cloth from Bombay. - -The Punjab has to right herself by putting her Swadeshi on a proper -basis and by ridding herself of Messrs. Bosworth Smith and Company. She -will then be both economically and politically sound. Geographically she -stands at the top. She led the way in the older times. Will she again do -so? Her men are virile to look at. Have they virility enough to secure -without a moment's delay purity of administration? I have not strayed -from Swadeshi to politics. My Swadeshi spirit makes me impatient of -garments that denude India of her wealth and equally impatient of the -Smiths, the O'Briens, the Shri Rams and the Maliks who denude her of her -self-respect and insolently touch women's veils with their sticks, chain -innocent men as if they were beasts, or shoot them from armoured cars or -otherwise terrorise people into subjection. - - _Y. I.--7th July 1920._ - - - - -SWADESHI STORES - - -In a previous issue I endeavoured to show how stores for the sake of -selling mill-manufactures did not advance Swadeshi in any way whatsoever -but on the contrary, tended to send up the price of cloth. I propose to -show in this article how with a small capital, it is possible to advance -true Swadeshi and earn a modest livelihood. - -Suppose that there is a family consisting of husband, wife and two -children one of whom is ten years old and the other five. If they have a -capital of Rs. 500 they can manage a Khaddar Bhandar in a small way. -They can hire, say in a place with a population of 20,000 inhabitants a -shop with dwelling rooms for Rs. 10 per month. If they sell the whole of -the stock at 10 p.c. profit they can have Rs. 50 per month. They have no -servants. The wife and the children in their spare time would be -expected to help in keeping the shop tidy and looking after it when the -husband is out. The wife and children can also devote their spare time -to spinning. - -In the initial stages the Khaddar may not sell at the shop. In that case -the husband is expected to hawk the Khaddar from door to door and -popularise it. He will soon find a custom for it. - -The reader must not be surprised at my suggesting 10 p.c. profits. The -Khaddar Bhandars are not designed for the poorest. The use of Khaddar -saves at least half the cost not necessarily because the Khaddar is more -durable (though that it certainly is) but because its use revolutionises -our tastes. I know what saving of money its use has meant to me. Those, -who buy Khaddar from patriotic motives merely, can easily afford to pay -10 p.c. profits on Khaddar. Lastly the popularising of Khaddar means -much care, devotion and labour. And the owner of a Khaddar Bhandar does -not buy it at a wholesale shop but he must wander to get the best -Khaddar, he must meet the local weavers and induce them to weave hand -spun yarn. He must stimulate in his own district hand spinning among its -women. He must come in touch with the carders and get them to card -cotton. All this means intelligence, organisation and great ability. A -man who can exhibit these qualities has a right to take 10 p.c. profits. -And a Swadeshi Bhandar conducted on these lines becomes a true centre of -Swadeshi activity. I commend my remarks to the attention of the managers -of Swadeshi stores that are already in existence. They may not -revolutionise their method at once but I have no doubt that they will -advance Swadeshi only to the extent that they sell Khaddar. - - _Y. I.--7th July, 1920._ - - - - -INDIAN ECONOMICS - - -A friend has placed in my hands a bulletin on Indian Piece Goods Trade -prepared by Mr. A. C. Coubrough C. B. E. by order of the Government of -India. It contains the following prefatory note: 'The Government of -India desire it to be understood that the statements made and the views -expressed in this bulletin are those of the author himself.' If so, why -has the Government of India burdened the tax-payer with the expense of -such bulletins? The one before me is 16th in the series. Do they publish -both the sides of the question? - -The bulletin under review is intended to be an answer to the Swadeshi -movement. It is an elaborate note containing a number of charts showing -the condition of imports and home manufacture of piece goods including -hand-woven. But it does not assist the reader in studying the movement. -The painstaking author has bestowed no pains upon a study of the -present movement or its scope. That the Government of India treats the -greatest constructive and co-operative movement in the country with -supreme contempt and devotes people's money to a vain refutation instead -of a sympathetic study and treatment is perhaps the best condemnation -that can be pronounced upon the system under which it is carried. - -The author's argument is: - -(1) The movement if successful will act not as a protective but a -prohibitive tariff. - -(2) This must result in merely enriching the Indian capitalist and -punishing the consumer. - -(3) The imports are non-competitive in that the bulk of the kind of -piece goods imported are not manufactured in India. - -(4) The result of boycotting such piece goods must be high prices -without corresponding benefit. - -(5) The boycott therefore being against the law of supply and demand and -against the consumer must fail in the end. - -(6) The destruction of hand spinning which I have deplored is due to -natural causes, _viz._ the invention of time-saving appliances and was -therefore inevitable. - -(7) The Indian farmer is responsible for his own ruin in that he has -indolently neglected cotton culture which was once so good. - -(8) The best service I can render is therefore to induce the -agriculturist to improve the quality of cotton. - -(9) The author concludes, 'If instead of filling homes with useless -_Charkhas_ he were to start a propaganda for the more intensive -cultivation of cotton and particularly for the production of longer -staple cotton, his influence would be felt not only at the present day -but for many generations to come.' - -The reader will thus see, that what I regard as the supreme necessity -for the economical salvation of India, the author considers to be rank -folly. There is therefore no meeting ground here. And in spite of the -prefatory note of the Government of India reproduced by me, the author -does represent the Government attitude. I have invited them and the -co-operators definitely to make common cause with the people in this -movement at any rate. They may not mind its political implications -because they do not believe in them. And surely they need not feel sorry -if contrary to their expectation, the rise of the _Charkha_ results in -an increase in the political power of the people. Instead of waging war -against _Khadi_, they might have popularised its use and disarmed the -terrible suspicion they labour under of wishing to benefit the foreign -manufacturer at the expense of the Indian cultivator. My invitation is -open for all time. I prophesy that whatever happens to the other parts -of the national programme, Swadeshi in its present shape will bide for -ever and must if India's pauperism is to be banished. - -Even though I am a layman, I make bold to say that the so-called laws -laid down in books on economics are not immutable like the laws of Medes -and Persians, nor are they universal. The economics of England are -different from those of Germany. Germany enriched herself by bounty-fed -beet sugar. England enriched herself by exploiting foreign markets. What -was possible for a compact area is not possible for an area 1,900 miles -long and 1,500 broad. The economics of a nation are determined by its -climatic, geological and temperamental conditions. The Indian conditions -are different from the English in all these essentials. What is meat for -England is in many cases poison for India. Beef tea in the English -climate may be good, it is poison for the hot climate of religious -India. Fiery whisky in the north of the British Isles may be a -necessity, it renders an Indian unfit for work or society. Fur-coats in -Scotland are indispensable, they will be an intolerable burden in India. -Free trade for a country which has become industrial, whose population -can and does live in cities, whose people do not mind preying upon other -nations and therefore sustain the biggest navy to protect their -unnatural commerce, may be economically sound (though as the reader -perceives, I question its morality). Free trade for India has proved -her curse and held her in bondage. - -And now for Mr. Coubrough's propositions. - -(1) The movement is intended to serve the purpose of a voluntary -prohibitive tariff. - -(2) But it is so conceived as neither unduly to benefit the capitalist -nor to injure the consumer. During the very brief transition stage the -prices of home manufactures may be, as they are, inflated. But the rise -can only be temporary as the vast majority of consumers must become -their own manufacturers. This cottage manufacture of yarn and cloth -cannot be expensive even as domestic cookery is not expensive and cannot -be replaced by hotel cookery. Over twenty-five crores of the population -will be doing their own hand-spinning and having yarn thus manufactured -woven in neighbouring localities. This population is rooted to the soil -and has at least four months in the year to remain idle. - -If they spin during those hours and have the yarn woven and wear it, no -mill-made cloth can compete with their _Khadi_. The cloth thus -manufactured will be the cheapest possible for them. If the rest of the -population did not take part in the process, it could easily be supplied -out of the surplus manufactured by the twenty-five crores. - -(3) It is true that non-competitive imports are larger than those that -compete with the manufactures of Indian mills. In the scheme proposed by -me the question does not arise, because the central idea is not so much -to carry on a commercial war against foreign countries as to utilise the -idle hours of the nation and thus by natural processes to help it to get -rid of her growing pauperism. - -(4) I have already shown that the result of boycott cannot in the end be -a rise in the price of cloth. - -(5) The proposed boycott is not against the law of supply and demand, -because it does away with the law by manufacturing enough for the -supply. The movement does require a change of taste on the part of those -who have adopted finer variety and who patronise fantastic combinations -of colours and designs. - -(6) I have shown in these pages, that the destruction of hand-spinning -was designed and carried out in a most inhuman manner by the agents of -the East India Company. No amount of appliances would ever have -displaced this national art and industry but for this artificial and -systematically cruel manner of carrying out the destruction. - -(7) I am unable to hold the Indian farmer responsible for the -deterioration in cotton culture. The whole incentive was taken away when -hand-spinning was destroyed. The State never cared for the cultivator. - -(8) My activity, I am proud to think, has already turned the -cultivator's attention to the improvement of cotton. The artistic sense -of the nation will insist on fine counts for which long staple is a -necessity. Cotton culture by itself cannot solve the problem of India's -poverty. For it will still leave the question of enforced idleness -untouched. - -(9) I therefore claim for the _Charkha_ the honour of being able to -solve the problem of economic distress in a most natural, simple, -unexpensive and business-like manner. The _Charkha_, therefore, is not -only not useless as the writer ignorantly suggests, but it is a useful -and indispensable article for every home. It is the symbol of the -nation's prosperity and therefore, freedom. It is a symbol not of -commercial war but of commercial peace. It bears not a message of -ill-will towards the nations of the earth but of good-will and -self-help. It will not need the protection of a navy threatening a -world's peace and exploiting its resources, but it needs the religious -determination of millions to spin their yarn in their own homes as -to-day they cook their food in their own homes. I may deserve the curses -of posterity for many mistakes of omission and commission but I am -confident of earning its blessings for suggesting a revival of the -_Charkha_. I stake my all on it. For every revolution of the wheel spins -peace, good-will and love. And with all that, inasmuch as the loss of -it brought about India's slavery, its voluntary revival with all its -implications must mean India's freedom. - - _Y. I.--8th Dec. 1921._ - - - - -HOW TO BOYCOTT FOREIGN CLOTH - - -It is needless to say at this time of the day, that the proposed boycott -of foreign cloth is not a vindictive measure, but is as necessary for -national existence as breath is for life. The quicker, therefore, it can -be brought about, the better for the country. Without it, Swaraj cannot -be established or retained after establishment. It is of the highest -importance to know how it can be brought about even before the first day -of August next. - -To arrive at the boycott quickly, it is necessary (1) for the -mill-owners to regulate their profits and to manufacture principally for -the Indian market, (2) for importers to cease to buy foreign goods. A -beginning has already been made by three principal merchants, (3) for -the consumers to refuse to buy any foreign cloth and to buy _Khadi_ -wherever possible, (4) for the consumers to wear only _Khadi_ cloth, -mill cloth being retained for the poor who do not know the distinction -between Swadeshi and Pardeshi, (5) for the consumers to use, till Swaraj -is established and _Khadi_ manufacture increased, _Khadi_ just enough -for covering the body, (6) for the consumers to destroy Pardeshi cloth, -as they would destroy intoxicating liquors on taking the vow of -abstinence, or to sell it for use abroad, or to wear it out for all -dirty work or during private hours. - -It is to be hoped that all the parties referred to in the foregoing -clauses will respond well and simultaneously. But in the end success -depends upon the persistent determination of the consumer. He has simply -to decline to wear the badge of his slavery. - -_Abusing the khaddar_--A friend draws attention to the fact that many -who have adopted the _khaddar_ costume are using it as a passport for -arrogance, insolence, and, what is worse, fraud. He says that they have -neither the spirit of non-co-operation in them nor the spirit of truth. -They simply use the _khaddar_ dress as a cloak for their deceit. All -this is likely, especially during the transition stage, i.e., whilst -_khaddar_ is beginning to become fashionable. I would only suggest to my -correspondent that such abuse of _khaddar_ must not even unconsciously -be allowed to be used as an argument against its use. Its use to-day is -obligatory on those who believe that there is not sufficient Indian -mill-made cloth to supply the wants of the nation, that the wants must -be supplied in the quickest way possible by increasing home manufacture, -and that such manufacture is possible only by making home-spinning -universal. The use of _khaddar_ represents nothing more than a most -practical recognition of the greatest economic necessity of the country. -Even a scoundrel may recognise this necessity, and has therefore a -perfect right to wear it. And if a Government spy wore it to deceive -people, I would welcome his use of _khaddar_ as so much economic gain to -the country. Only I would not give the wearer of the _khaddar_ more than -his due. And I would therefore not ascribe to him any piety or special -virtue. It follows, therefore, that co-operationists or government -servants may wear _khaddar_ without incurring the danger of being -mistaken for non-co-operationists. We may no more shun _khaddar_, than a -devout church-goer may renounce his church because bad characters go to -it for duping gullible people. I recall the name of an M. P. who -successfully cloaked many of his vices by pretending to be a staunch -temperance man. Not very long ago a bold and unscrupulous speculator -found entry into most respectable circles by becoming a temperance -advocate. Well has a poet said that 'hypocricy is an ode to virtue.' - -_Some 'ifs'_--If you are a _weaver_ feeling for the country, the -Khilafat and the Punjab, - -(1) You should weave only hand-spun yarn, and charge so as to give you a -living. You should overcome all the difficulties of sizing and adjusting -your loom to the requirements of coarse yarn. - -(2) If you cannot possibly tackle hand-spun yarn for warp, you must use -Indian mill-spun yarn for it and use hand-spun for woof. - -(3) Where even the second alternative is not possible, you should use -mill-spun yarn for both warp and woof. - -But you should henceforth cease to use any foreign yarn, whether it is -silk or cotton. - -If you are a _Congress official or worker_, you should get hold of the -weavers within your jurisdiction, and place the foregoing propositions -before them for acceptance and help them to the best of your ability. - -If you are a _buyer_, insist upon the first class of cloth, but if you -have not the sense or the courage to do so, take up the second or the -third, but on no account purchase foreign cloth or cloth woven in India -but made of foreign yarn. - -If you are a _householder_, - -(1) You should make a fixed determination henceforth not to buy any -foreign cloth. - -(2) You should interview the weaver in your neighbourhood, and get him -to weave for you enough _khadi_ out of home-spun and failing that to -weave out of Indian mill-spun yarn. - -(3) You should deliver to the Congress Committee all your foreign cloth -for destruction or sending to Smyrna or elsewhere outside India. - -(4) If you have not the courage to give up your foreign cloth, you may -wear it out at home for all dirty work, but never go out in foreign -cloth. - -(5) If you have any leisure, you should devote it to learning the art of -spinning even, properly-twisted yarn for the sake of the nation. - -If you are a _schoolboy or schoolgirl_, you should consider it a sin to -receive literary training, before you have spun, carded or woven for the -nation for at least four hours per day till the establishment of Swaraj. - - _Y. I.--6th July 1921._ - - - - -SPINNING - - - - -THE MUSIC OF THE SPINNING WHEEL - - -Slowly but surely the music of perhaps the most ancient machine of India -is once more permeating society. Pandit Malaviyaji has stated that he is -not going to be satisfied until the Ranis and the Maharanis of India -spin yarn for the nation, and the Ranas and the Maharanas sit behind the -handlooms and weave cloth for the nation. They have the example of -Aurangzeb who made his own caps. A greater emperor--Kabir--was himself a -weaver and has immortalised the art in his poems. The queens of Europe, -before Europe was caught in Satan's trap, spun yarn and considered it a -noble calling. The very words, spinster and wife, prove the ancient -dignity of the art of spinning and weaving. 'When Adam delved and Eve -span, who was then a gentleman,' also reminds one of the same fact. Well -may Panditji hope to persuade the royalty of India to return to the -ancient calling of this sacred land of ours. Not on the clatter of arms -depends the revival of her prosperity and true independence. It depends -most largely upon re-introduction, in every home, of the music of the -spinning wheel. It gives sweeter music and is more profitable than the -execrable harmonium, concertina and the accordian. - -Whilst Panditji is endeavouring in his inimitably suave manner to -persuade the Indian royalty to take up the spinning wheel, Shrimati -Sarala Devi Chaudhrani, who is herself a member of the Indian nobility, -has learnt the art and has thrown herself heart and soul into the -movement. From all the accounts received from her and others, Swadeshi -has become a passion with her. She says she feels uncomfortable in her -muslin saris and is content to wear her _khaddar_ saris even in the hot -weather. Her _khaddar_ saris continue to preach true Swadeshi more -eloquently than her tongue. She has spoken to audiences in Amritsar, -Ludhiana and elsewhere and has succeeded in enlisting the services, for -her Spinning Committee at Amritsar, of Mrs. Ratanchand and Bugga -Chowdhry and the famous Ratan Devi who during the frightful night of the -13th April despite the Curfew Order of General Dyer sat, all alone in -the midst of the hundreds of the dead and dying, with her dead husband's -cold head in her lap. I venture to tender my congratulations to these -ladies. May they find solace in the music of the spinning wheel and in -the thought that they are doing national work. I hope that the other -ladies of Amritsar will help Sarala Devi in her efforts and that the men -of Amritsar will realise their own duty in the matter. - -In Bombay the readers are aware that ladies of noted families have -already taken up spinning. Their ranks have been joined by -Dr. Mrs. Manekbai Bahudarji who has already learnt the art and who is -now trying to introduce it in the Sevasadan. Her Highness the Begum -Saheba of Janjira and her sister Mrs. Atia Begum Rahiman, have also -undertaken to learn the art. I trust that these good ladies will, -having learnt spinning, religiously contribute to the nation their daily -quota of yarn. - -I know that there are friends who laugh at this attempt to revive this -great art. They remind me that in these days of mills, sewing machines -or typewriters, only a lunatic can hope to succeed in reviving the -rusticated spinning wheel. These friends forget that the needle has not -yet given place to the sewing machine nor has the hand lost its cunning -in spite of the typewriter. There is not the slightest reason why the -spinning wheel may not co-exist with the spinning mill even as the -domestic kitchen co-exists with the hotels. Indeed typewriters and -sewing machines may go, but the needle and the reed pen will survive. -The mills may suffer destruction. The spinning wheel is a national -necessity. I would ask sceptics to go to the many poor homes where the -spinning wheel is again supplementing their slender resources and ask -the inmates whether the spinning wheel has not brought joy to their -homes. - -Thank God, the reward issued by Mr. Rewashanker Jagjiwan bids fair to -bear fruit. In a short time India will possess a renovated spinning -wheel--a wonderful invention of a patient Deccan artisan. It is made out -of simple materials. There is no great complication about it. It will be -cheap and capable of being easily mended. It will give more yarn than -the ordinary wheel and is capable of being worked by a five years old -boy or girl. But whether the new machine proves what it claims to be or -it does not, I feel convinced that the revival of hand-spinning and -hand-weaving will make the largest contribution to the economic and the -moral regeneration of India. The millions must have a simple industry to -supplement agriculture. Spinning was the cottage industry years ago and -if the millions are to be saved from starvation, they must be enabled to -reintroduce spinning in their homes, and every village must repossess -its own weaver. - - _Y. I.--21st July 1920._ - - - - -"HANDLOOMS OR POWERMILLS?" - - -Whenever an attempt has been made, as it is being made to-day, to -encourage the use and production of hand-spun and hand-woven cloth, many -have looked askance whether it is intended in this age of mechanical -industrialism to supplant the latter by medieval handlooms. The issue is -placed between the hand power and the power mill. A correspondent of the -_Janmabhumi_ falls into this common error. Apparently agitated at the -idea of reviving the home industries, he exclaims, "The real question -for consideration with us or with any people to-day is not whether the -handloom will or will not be able to hold its own against the power -loom, or whether it cannot feed millions of families or clothe millions -more in home-made dress; but which will contribute to the economic and -political power of a nation or country, whether it is the handloom or -the power-mill? Handicrafts or machine industries--that is the real -issue." - -It is not quite clear from the above what the notions of the -correspondent are about the economic and political power of this -country. We cannot imagine him to seriously believe--though his argument -runs as if he does--that that power can be achieved without feeding and -clothing the millions of our half-starving and half-naked men, women and -children. The political and economic power of a nation depends even in -this "age of mechanical industrialism," not on its powerful machines but -on its powerful men. Germany was equipped with the best and most -powerful and modern machinery, but it failed because at the last moment -the power of its nation failed. We want to organise our national power. -This can be done not by adopting the best methods of production only but -by the best method of _both_ the production and the distribution. -Production that is the manufacture of cloth in this particular instance -can be brought about in two ways; (1) by establishing new mills and -increasing the output or producing capacity of each mill and (2) by -increasing the number of hand-looms and improving them. All these -activities can go together. The notion of a competition between the -hand-loom and the power mill has been shown by such an eminent economist -as Prof. Radha Kamal Mukerjea to be "altogether wrong." Says -Mr. Mukerjea in his _Foundations of Indian Economics_: - -"The hand-loom does not compete with the mill, it supplements it in the -following way: - -(1) It produces special kinds of goods which cannot be woven in the -mills. - -(2) It utilizes yarn below and above certain counts which cannot at -present be used on the power-mill. - -(3) It will consume the surplus stock of Indian spinning mills which -need not then be sent out of the country. - -(4) Being mainly a village-industry, it supplies the local demand, at -the same time gives employment to small capitalists, weavers and other -village workmen and - -(5) lastly it will supply the long-felt want of, and honest field of, -work and livelihood for educated Indians." - -But even this is not all that can be said in favour of hand-loom -industry. Mill industry no doubt can be a powerful aid to the promotion -of Swadeshi. But apart from the bitter struggle, strife and -demoralisation of the capitalist and the workman (as explained by the -eminent scholar, administrator and economist, the late Mr. Romesh -Chundra Dutt) it has led to, the question is: Can it solve the problem -which pure Swadeshi is designed and sought to do and which arises only -because of its abandonment? Every writer of note on the industries of -India, whatever his ideas and conclusions about the future of Indian -Industrialism may be, has shown that there was a time and that was even -till the Early British Rule in India--where spinning and weaving, only -next to agriculture, were the great national industries of India, when -all the cotton was spun by hand and every portion of the work was done -by the farming population which augmented its resources by spinning and -weaving. Mr. Dutt has given extracts from the statistical observations -of Dr. Francis Buchanan's economic enquiries in Southern and Northern -India, conducted between 1798 and 1814. They show how many hundreds of -thousands of our men, women and children worked on this industry--mostly -in their leisure time--each day and earned crores of rupees annually. - -How our home-industries came to the sad plight they are in to-day is an -open secret, admitted by all authorities and need not be repeated here. -Suffice it to say that the problem to-day is not to bring about that -political and economic re-organisation of our country, which disturbs -the West to-day--an organisation which has led to the breaking up of the -society by ceaseless struggles, bitterness and rupture between Capital -and Labour. We want to work out the real political and economic -regeneration of the country by Swadeshi. And the problem of the Swadeshi -is the problem of 80 per cent. of our population who spend more than six -months of the year in enforced idleness, eking, throughout the year, a -miserable, half-starving and half-naked existence. We must find out -suitable work for them during their idle hours. We must make them a real -asset and power to the nation. Pure Swadeshi alone can do it. - - _Y. I.--28th July 1920._ - - - - -HAND-SPINNING AND HAND-WEAVING - - -Some people spurn the idea of making in this age of mechanism -hand-spinning and hand-weaving a national industry, but they forget -there are millions of their countrymen in this age who, for want of -suitable occupation, are eking out a most miserable existence, and -thousands who die of starvation and underfeeding every year, whereas -only a hundred years ago hand-spinning and hand-weaving proved an -insurance against a pauper's death. The extent to which relief was -provided by this industry is recorded by Mr. Dutt in his "History of -India: Victorian age" from the investigations conducted by Dr. Buchanan -for seven years, 1813-1820. Dr. Buchanan travelled throughout of the -whole country. And his observations and statistics convinced him that -next to agriculture, hand-spinning and hand-weaving were the great -national industries. We make no apology for giving some of the facts and -figures collected by Dr. Buchanan: - -In the districts of Patna and Behar with a population of 3,364,420 -souls, the number of spinners was 330,426. "By far the greater part of -these," observed Dr. Buchanan, "spin only a few hours in the afternoon, -and upon the average estimate the whole value of the thread that each -spins in a year is worth Rs. 7-2-8 giving a total annual income of -Rs. 23,67,277 and by a similar calculation the raw material at the retail -price will amount to Rs. 12,86,272, leaving a profit of Rs. 10,81,005 -for the spinners or Rs. 3-4-0 per spinner...." - -In the district of Shahbad, spinning was the chief industry. 159,500 -women were employed in spinning and spun yarn to the value of -Rs. 12,50,000 a year. Deducting the value of cotton each woman had some -thing left to her to add to the income of the family to which she -belonged. - -In the Bhagalpur district (with a population of 2,019,900) where all -castes were permitted to spin, 160,000 women spent a part of their time -in spinning and each made an annual income of Rs. 4-1/2 after deducting -the cost of cotton. This was added to the family income. In the -Gorakhpur district (population 1,385,495) 175,600 women found employment -in spinning and made an annual income of Rs. 2-1/2 per head. In the -Dinjapur district (with a population of 300,000) cotton-spinning which -was the principal manufacture occupied the leisure hours 'of all women -of higher rank and of the greater part of the farmers' wives.' Three -rupees was the annual income each woman made by spinning in her -afternoon hours. - -In the Purniya district (population 2,904,380) all castes considered -spinning honourable and a very large population of women of the district -did some spinning in their leisure hours. - -In eastern Mysore women of all castes except Brahmans bought cotton and -wool at weekly markets, spun at home, and sold the thread to weavers. -Men and women thus found a profitable occupation. In Coimbatore, the -wives of all the low class cultivators were great spinners. - -The statistics of weavers show that they also were as numerous as the -spinners. In the Patna city and Behar district, the total number of -looms employed in the manufacture of chaddars and table cloths was 750, -and the value of the annual manufactures was Rs. 5,40,000 leaving a -profit of Rs. 81,400, deducting the value of thread. This gave a profit -of Rs. 108 for each loom worked by three persons or an income of Rs. 36 -a year for each person. But the greater part of the cloth-weavers made -coarse cloth for country use to the value of Rs. 24,386,621 after -deducting the cost of thread. This gave a profit of Rs. 28 for each -loom. - -In Shahabad weavers worked in cotton only. 7,025 houses of weavers -worked in cotton and had 7,950 looms. Each loom made an annual income of -Rs. 20-3/4 a year and each loom required the labour of a man and his -wife as well as one boy or girl. But as a family could not be supported -for less than Rs. 48 a year, Dr. Buchanan suspected that the income of -each loom given above was understated. - -In the Bhagalpur district some worked in silk alone. A great many near -the town made Tasar fabrics of silk and cotton intermixed; 3,275 looms -were so employed that the annual profit of each weaver employed in the -mixed silk and cotton industry was calculated to be Rs. 46 besides what -the woman made. - -For the weaving of cotton-cloth, there were 7,279 looms. Each loom -yielded a profit of Rs. 20 a year. But by another calculation, Dr. -Buchanan estimated it to be Rs. 32 a year. - -In the Gorakhpur district there were 5,434 families of weavers -possessing 6,174 looms and each loom brought an income of Rs. 23-1/2. -Dr. Buchanan thought this was too low an estimate and believed that each -loom brought an income of Rs. 88 in the year. - -In the Dungarpur district "Maldai" cloth was manufactured. It consisted -of silk warp and cotton woof. 4,000 looms were employed in this work -and it was said that each loom made Rs. 20 worth of cloth in a month, -which Dr. Buchanan considered too high an estimate. About 800 looms were -employed in making larger pieces in the form of Elachis. - -In the Purniya district weavers were numerous.... In Eastern Mysore -cotton-weavers made cloth for home-use as silk weavers produced a strong -rich fabric. Workmen who made cloth with silk borders earned As. 6 a day -and those who made silk cloth earned As. 4. - -Thus we see that crores of rupees were earned by these spinners and -weavers by following their noble and honest calling. The -decentralisation of the industry--every village, town and district -having always at its command as much supply as it needed--automatically -facilitated its distribution and saved the consumer from Railway Excise -and all sorts of tariffs and middlemen's profits that he is a victim to -to-day. If we cannot return to these days--though there is no reason, -except our own bias and doubt why we should not--can we not at least so -organise our industries as to do away without much delay with the -foreign cloth with which our markets are being dumped to-day? - - _Y. I.--15th Sep. 1920._ - - - - -HAND-SPINNING AGAIN - - -_The Servant of India_ has a fling too at spinning and that is based as -I shall presently show on ignorance of the facts. Spinning does protect -a woman's virtue, because it enables women, who are to-day working on -public roads and are often in danger of having their modesty outraged, -to protect themselves, and I know no other occupation that lacs of women -can follow save spinning. Let me inform the jesting writer that several -women have already returned to the sanctity of their homes and taken to -spinning which they say is the one occupation which means so much -_barkat_ (blessing). I claim for it the properties of a musical -instrument, for whilst a hungry and a naked woman will refuse to dance -to the accompaniment of a piano, I have seen women beaming with joy to -see the spinning wheel work, for they know that they can through that -rustic instrument both feed and clothe themselves. - -Yes, it does solve the problem of India's chronic poverty and is an -insurance against famine. The writer of the jests may not know the -scandals that I know about irrigation and relief works. These works are -largely a fraud. But if my wise counsellors will devote themselves to -introducing the wheel in every home, I promise that the wheel will be an -almost complete protection against famine. It is idle to cite Austria. I -admit the poverty and limitations of my humanity. I can only think of -India's _Kamadhenu_, and the spinning wheel is that for India. For India -had the spinning wheel in every home before the advent of the East India -Company. India being a cotton growing country, it must be considered a -crime to import a single yard of yarn from outside. The figures quoted -by the writer are irrelevant. - -The fact is that in spite of the manufacture of 62.7 crores pounds of -yarn in 1917-18 India imported several crore yards of foreign yarn -which were woven by the mills as well as the weavers. The writer does -not also seem to know that more cloth is to-day woven by our weavers -than by mills, but the bulk of it is foreign yarn and therefore our -weavers are supporting foreign spinners. I would not mind it much if we -were doing something else instead. When spinning was almost compulsorily -stopped nothing replaced it save slavery and idleness. Our mills cannot -to-day spin enough for our wants, and if they did, they will not keep -down prices unless they were compelled. They are frankly money-makers -and will not therefore regulate prices according to the needs of the -nations. Hand-spinning is therefore designed to put millions of rupees -in the hands of poor villagers. Every agricultural country requires a -supplementary industry to enable the peasants to utilise the spare -hours. Such industry for India has always been spinning. Is it such a -visionary ideal--an attempt to revive an ancient occupation whose -destruction has brought on slavery, pauperism and disappearance of the -inimitable artistic talents which was once all expressed in the -wonderful fabric of India and which was the envy of the world? - -And now a few figures. One boy could, if he worked say four hours daily, -spin 1/4 lb. of yarn. 64,000 students would, therefore, spin 16,000 lbs. -per day, and therefore feed 8,000 weavers if a weaver wove two lbs. of -hand-spun yarn. But the students and others are required to spin during -this year of purification by way of penance in order to popularise -spinning and to add to the manufacture of hand-spun yarn so as to -overtake full manufacture during the current year. The nation may be too -lazy to do it. But if all put their hands to this work, it is incredibly -easy, it involves very little sacrifice and saves an annual drain of -sixty crores even if it does nothing else. I have discussed the matter -with many mill-owners, several economists, men of business and no one -has yet been able to challenge the position herein set forth. I do -expect the 'Servant of India' to treat a serious subject with -seriousness and accuracy of information. - - _Y. I.--16th Feb. 1921._ - - - - -A PLEA FOR SPINNING - - -A determined opposition was put up against the conditions regarding -Swadeshi that were laid down in the civil disobedience resolution passed -by the All-India Congress Committee at Delhi. It was directed against -two requirements, namely, that the civil resister offering resistance in -terms of that resolution was bound to know hand-spinning and use only -hand-spun and hand-woven _khadi_; and that in the event of a district or -tahsil offering civil disobedience _en masse_ the district or the tahsil -concerned must manufacture its own yarn and cloth by the hand. The -opposition betrayed woeful ignorance of the importance of hand-spinning. -Nothing but hand-spinning can banish pauperism from the land. Paupers -cannot become willing sufferers. They have never known the pain of -plenty to appreciate the happiness of voluntarily suffering hunger or -other bodily discomfort. Swaraj for them can only mean ability to -support themselves without begging. To awaken among them a feeling of -discontent with their lot without providing them with the means of -removing the cause thereof is to court certain destruction, anarchy, -outrage and plunder in which they themselves will be the chief victims. -Hand-spinning alone can possibly supply them with supplementary and -additional earnings. Hand-weaving for many and carding for a limited -number can provide complete livelihood. But hand-weaving is not a lost -art. Several million men know hand-weaving. But very few know -hand-spinning in the true sense of the term. Tens of thousands are, it -is true, turning the wheel to-day but only a few are spinning yarn. The -cry all over is that hand-spun yarn is not good enough for warp. Just as -half-baked bread is no bread, even so ill-spun weak thread is no yarn. -Thousands of men must know hand-spinning to be able in their respective -districts to improve the quality of the yarn that is now being spun in -the country. Therefore those who offer civil disobedience for the sake -of establishing Swaraj must know hand-spinning. Mark, they are not -required to turn out yarn every day. It would be well if they did. But -they must know how to spin even properly twisted yarn. It was a happy -omen to me, that in spite of the opposition the amendment was rejected -by a large majority. One argument advanced in favour of rejection was, -that the Sikh men considered it an undignified occupation to spin and -looked down upon hand-weaving. I do hope that the sentiment is not -representative of the brave community. Any community that despises -occupations that bring an honest livelihood is a community going down an -incline. If spinning has been the speciality of women, it is because -they have more leisure and not because it is an inferior occupation. The -underlying suggestion that a wielder of the sword will not wield the -wheel is to take a distorted view of a soldier's calling. A man who -lives by the sword does _not_ serve his community even as the soldiers -in the employ of the Government do not serve the country. The wielding -of the sword is an unnatural occupation resorted to among civilized -people only on extraordinary occasions and only for self-defence. To -live by hand-spinning and hand-weaving is any day more _manly_ than to -live by killing. Aurangzeb was not the less a soldier for sewing caps. -What we prize in the Sikhs is not their ability to kill. The late Sardar -Lachman Singh will go down to posterity as a hero, because he knew how -to die. The Mahant of Nankhana Saheb will go down to posterity as a -murderer. I hope therefore that no man will decline to learn the -beautiful life-giving art of hand-spinning on the ground of its supposed -inferiority. - - _Y. I.--10th Nov. 1921._ - - - - -THE DUTY OF SPINNING - - -In "The Secret of Swaraj" I have endeavoured to show what home spinning -means for our country. In any curriculum of the future, spinning must be -a compulsory subject. Just as we cannot live without breathing and -without eating, so is it impossible for us to attain economic -independence and banish pauperism from this ancient land without -reviving home-spinning. I hold the spinning wheel to be as much a -necessity in every household as the hearth. No other scheme that can be -devised will ever solve the problem of the deepening poverty of the -people. - -How then can spinning be introduced in every home? I have already -suggested the introduction of spinning and systematic production of yarn -in every national school. Once our boys and girls have learnt the art -they can easily carry it to their homes. - -But this requires organisation. A spinning wheel must be worked for -twelve hours per day. A practised spinner can spin two tolas and a half -per hour. The price that is being paid at present is on an average four -annas per forty tolas or one pound of yarn _i.e._, one pice per hour. -Each wheel therefore should give three annas per day. A strong one costs -seven rupees. Working, therefore, at the rate of twelve hours per day it -can pay for itself in less than 38 days. I have given enough figures to -work upon. Any one working at them will find the results to be -startling. - -If every school introduced spinning, it would revolutionize our ideas of -financing education. We can work a school for six hours per day and give -free education to the pupils. Supposing a boy works at the wheel for -four hours daily, he will produce every day 10 tolas of yarn and thus -earn for his school one anna per day. Suppose further that he -manufactures very little during the first month, and that the school -works only twenty six days in the month. He can earn after the first -month Rs. 1-10 per month. A class of thirty boys would yield, after the -first month, an income of Rs. 48-12 per month. - -I have said nothing about literary training. It can be given during the -two hours out of the six. It is easy to see that every school can be -made self supporting without much effort and the nation can engage -experienced teachers for its schools. - -The chief difficulty in working out the scheme is the spinning wheel. We -require thousands of wheels if the art becomes popular. Fortunately, -every village carpenter can easily construct the machine. It is a -serious mistake to order them from the Ashram or any other place. The -beauty of spinning is that it is incredibly simple, easily learnt, and -can be cheaply introduced in every village. - -The course suggested by me is intended only for this year of -purification and probation. When normal times are reached and Swaraj is -established one hour only may be given to spinning and the rest to -literary training. - - _Y. I.--2nd Feb. 1921._ - - - - -THE DUTY OF SPINNING - - -[Speaking at a monster meeting of students held in Mirzapur Park, -Calcutta, Mahatma Gandhi appealed to them to withdraw from educational -institutions. In the course of that speech he spoke on the duty of -spinning, which portion is printed here.] - -Our education has been the most deficient in two things. Those who -framed our education code neglected the training of the body and the -soul. You are receiving the education of the soul but the very fact of -non-co-operation for non-co-operation is nothing less and nothing more -than withdrawing from participation in the evil that this Government is -doing and continuing to do. And if we are withdrawing from evil -conscientiously, deliberately, it means that we are walking with our -face towards God. That completes or begins the soul training. But -seeing that our bodily education has been neglected, and seeing that -India has become enslaved because India forgot the spinning wheel, and -because India sold herself for a mess of pottage, I am not afraid to -place before you, the young men of Bengal, the spinning wheel for -adoption. And let a training in spinning and production of as much yarn -as you can ever do constitute your main purpose and your main training -during this year of probation. Let your ordinary education commence -after Swaraj is established, but let every young man, and every girl, of -Bengal consider it to be their sacred duty to devote all their time and -energy to spinning. I have drawn attention to the parallel, that -presents itself before us, from the war. - - _Y. I.--2nd Feb. 1921._ - - - - -THE DOCTRINE OF CHARKA - - -[The opening session of the National College, Calcutta, under the -auspices of the Board of Education, formed by Srijuts Chittaranjan Das, -Jitendralal Banerjee and other non-co-operation leaders, took place on -Friday the 4th February 1921. In opening this College, Mahatma Gandhi -addressed the students and professors, from which the following is -culled.] - -We have sufficiently talked about Charka and how it is going to free -India--how a nation that came through the Charka to this country as -traders, merchants and travellers settled themselves down as rulers with -our co-operation, and how non-co-operation and by means of that very -Indian _Charka_ they will go back to their own country if they cannot -live as fellow-citizens in India. - -There are peoples who say--"how can you expect the Mahomedans to be -non-violent." How, I do not want to speak out. I want the _Charka_ -itself to speak out. The whole Europe will know when we place these -Charkas in our mosques. Something like 800 Charkas had been ordered for -the mosques so that the people who come there should be able to produce -Indian yarn with which Indian clothes should be woven by Indian hands in -Indian homes to clothe our nakedness or at least to provide home-spun -shrouds for us. Thus every revolution of the _Charka_ I can assure you, -will bring the success of this bloodless revolution the nearer every -day. That is the doctrine of _Charka_. Therefore I ask you to work up -this doctrine which will be a great advertisement both of our -determination to win freedom, and if possible, through peaceful means. - -If you are determined to have the freedom of your country, if you want -to see the cessation of our slavery in which we are living for close -upon two centuries, it requires from you a peaceful battle--the battle -of the _Charka_. - - _Y. I.--9th Feb. 1921._ - - - - -THE MESSAGE OF THE CHARKA - - -The _Indian Social Reformer_ has published a note from a correspondent -in praise of the spinning-wheel. The correspondent in the course of his -remarks hopes, that the movement will be so organised that the spinners -may not weary of it. Mr. Amritlal Thakkar in his valuable note -(published in the _Servant of India_) on the experiment which he is -conducting in Kathiawad, says that the charkha has been taken up by the -peasant women. They are not likely to weary, for to them it is a source -of livelihood to which they were used before. It had dried up, because -there was no demand for their yarn. Townspeople who have taken to -spinning may weary, if they have done so as a craze or a fashion. Those -only will be faithful, who consider it their duty to devote their spare -hours to doing what is to-day the most useful work for the country. The -third class of spinners are the school-going children. I expect the -greatest results from the experiment of introducing the charkha in the -National Schools. If it is conducted on scientific lines by teachers who -believe in the charkha as the most efficient means of making education -available to the seven and a half lacs of villages in India, there is -not only no danger of weariness, but every prospect of the nation being -able to solve the problem of financing mass education without any extra -taxation and without having to fall back upon immoral sources of -revenue. - -The writer in the _Indian Social Reformer_ suggests, that an attempt -should be made to produce finer counts on the spinning-wheel. I may -assure him that the process has already begun, but it will be some time -before we arrive at the finish of the Dacca muslin or even twenty -counts. Seeing that hand-spinning was only revived last September, and -India began to believe in it somewhat only in December, the progress it -has made may be regarded as phenomenal. - -The writer's complaint that hand-spun yarn is not being woven as fast as -it is spun, is partly true. But the remedy is not so much to increase -the number of looms, as to persuade the existing weavers to use -hand-spun yarn. Weaving is a much more complex process than spinning. It -is not, like spinning, only a supplementary industry, but a complete -means of livelihood. It therefore never died out. There are _enough -weavers and enough looms in India to replace the whole of the foreign -import of cloth_. It should be understood that our looms--thousands of -them in Madras, Maharashtra and Bengal--are engaged in weaving the fine -yarn imported from Japan and Manchester. We _must_ utilize these for -weaving hand-spun yarn. And for that purpose, the nation has to revise -its taste for the thin tawdry and useless muslins. I see no art in -weaving muslins, that do not cover but only expose the body. Our ideas -of art must undergo a change. But even if the universal weaving of thin -fabric be considered desirable in normal conditions, at the present -moment whilst we are making a mighty effort to become free and -self-supporting, we must be content to wear the cloth that our hand-spun -yarn may yield. We have therefore to ask the fashionable on the one hand -to be satisfied with coarser garments; we must educate the spinners on -the other hand to spin finer and more even yarn. - -The writer pleads for a reduction in the prices charged by mill-owners -for their manufactures. When lovers of Swadeshi begin to consider it -their duty to wear khaddar, when the required number of spinning-wheels -are working and the weavers are weaving hand-spun yarn, the mill-owners -will be bound to reduce prices. It seems almost hopeless merely to -appeal to the patriotism of those whose chief aim is to increase their -own profits. - -Incongruities pointed out by the writer such as the wearing of khaddar -on public occasions and at other times of the most fashionable English -suits, and the smoking of most expensive cigars by wearers of khaddar, -must disappear in course of time, as the new fashion gains strength. It -is my claim that as soon as we have completed the boycott of foreign -cloth, we shall have evolved so far that we shall necessarily give up -the present absurdities and remodel national life in keeping with the -ideal of simplicity and domesticity implanted in the bosom of the -masses. We will not then be dragged into an imperialism, which is built -upon exploitation of the weaker races of the earth, and the acceptance -of a giddy materialistic civilization protected by naval and air forces -that have made peaceful living almost impossible. On the contrary, we -shall then refine that imperialism, into a common wealth of nations -which will combine, if they do, for the purpose of giving their best to -the world and of protecting, not by brute force but by self-suffering, -the weaker nations or races of the earth. Non-co-operation aims at -nothing less than this revolution in the thought-world. Such a -transformation can come only after the complete success of the -spinning-wheel. India can become fit for delivering such a message, -when she has become proof against temptation and therefore attacks from -outside, by becoming self-contained regarding two of her chief -needs--food and clothing. - - _Y. I.--29th June 1921._ - - - - -THE CHARKA IN THE GITA - - -In the last issue I have endeavoured to answer the objections raised by -the Poet against spinning as a sacrament to be performed by all. I have -done so in all humility and with the desire to convince the Poet and -those who think like him. The reader will be interested in knowing, that -my belief is derived largely from the Bhagavadgita. I have quoted the -relevant verses in the article itself. I give below Edwin Arnold's -rendering of the verses from his Song Celestial for the benefit of those -who do not read Sanskrit. - - Work is more excellent than idleness; - The body's life proceeds not, lacking work. - There is a task of holiness to do, - Unlike world-binding toil, which bindeth not - The faithful soul; such earthly duty do - Free from desire, and thou shalt well perform - Thy heavenly purpose. Spake Prajapati - In the beginning, when all men were made, - And, with mankind, the sacrifice--"Do this! - Work! Sacrifice! Increase and multiply - With sacrifice! This shall be Kamadhuk, - Your 'Cow of Plenty', giving back her milk - Of all abundance. Worship the gods thereby; - The gods shall yield ye grace. Those meats ye crave - The gods will grant to Labour, when it pays - Tithes in the altar-flame. But if one eats - Fruits of the earth, rendering to kindly heaven, - No gift of toil, that thief steals from his world." - Who eat of food after their sacrifice - Are quit of fault, but they that spread a feast - All for themselves, eat sin and drink of sin. - By food the living live; food comes of rain. - And rain comes by the pious sacrifice, - And sacrifice is paid with tithes of toil; - Thus action is of Brahma, who is one, - The Only, All--pervading; at all times - Present in sacrifice. He that abstains - To help the rolling wheels of this great world, - Glutting his idle sense, lives a lost life, - Shameful and vain. - -Work here undoubtedly refers to physical labour, and work by way of -sacrifice can only be work to be done by all for the common benefit. -Such work--such sacrifice can only be spinning. I do not wish to -suggest, that the author of the Divine Song had the spinning wheel in -mind. He merely laid down a fundamental principle of conduct. And -reading in and applying it to India I can only think of spinning as the -fittest and most acceptable sacrificial body labour. I cannot imagine -anything nobler or more national than that for say one hour in the day -we should all do the labour that the poor must do, and thus identify -ourselves with them and through them with all mankind. I cannot imagine -better worship of God than that in His name I should labour for the poor -even as they do. The spinning wheel spells a more equitable distribution -of the riches of the earth. - - _Y. I.--20th Oct. 1921._ - - - - -SPINNING AS FAMINE RELIEF - - -Mrs. Jaiji Petit has sent the following notes of an experiment being -conducted in spinning among the famine-stricken people at Miri near -Ahmednagar. I gladly publish the notes as the experiment is being -conducted under the supervision of an Englishwoman. The reader will not -fail to observe the methodical manner in which the work is being done. -All the difficulties have been met and provided for. Even the very small -experiment shows what a potent instrument the spinning wheel is for -famine relief. Properly organised it cannot but yield startling -results.--M. K. G. - -In the month of August 1920, when the severity of the famine was being -felt, the idea of introducing spinning as a famine relief to respectable -middle class people was started and Miss Latham kindly gave a spinning -wheel to introduce the work. Attempts were made to introduce the work -especially among the Dhangars who were used to spinning wool but they -proved futile. Spinning a thin thread of cotton was thought an -impossibility in a village which did not know anything about it. Doubts -were also entertained as to whether the work if taken up would be paying -or at least helpful. In such different difficulties and objections, the -wheel remained idle for nearly three months, and in spite of vigorous -efforts no body seemed willing to take up the work. In December 1920, -Miss Latham again sent four more wheels through the kindness of -Mrs. J. Petit and some cotton. They were given for trial to different -persons. Signs now seemed a little hopeful and at last one Ramoshi woman -was prevailed upon to take up the work seriously. This was about the -20th of January 1921, since when the work has assumed a different shape. -The example of this woman was copied by two more who undertook to take -the work. Through great perseverance 4 lbs. of yarn were prepared by -these three spinners and it was sent for sale. In the meantime many -women began to make the inquiries and expressed a desire to take it up -if it helped them financially in some way. A rate of spinning 6 as. a -lb. was therefore fixed and it helped other spinners to join the work. - -Here another difficulty viz. that of funds came in the way. All the five -wheels were engaged and five more prepared locally were also engaged. -The stock of cotton was also exhausted. It seemed that the work would -suffer for want of funds to prepare wheels, purchase cotton, and pay the -workers. Rao Bahadur Chitale personally saw this difficulty and helped -the work with a grant of Rs. 100. Miss Latham, when she knew of this -difficulty, kindly sent another hundred. These two grants came at the -right time and gave a stimulus to the work. Local gentlemen helped with -their own cotton. - -The demand for wheels went on increasing day by day. People being too -poor to pay for the wheels, it became necessary to get the wheels -prepared locally and lend them to the workers. Twenty seven more wheels -were prepared which also gave work to local carpenters who had no work -on account of famine. One carpenter improved the wheel by making it more -light and useful for finer yarn. The prices of the wheel were paid at -Rs. 3, Rs. 3-8, and Rs. 4 per wheel according to the quality. Three of -these wheels have been sold for Rs. 9-8. The total sum spent on these -wheels is Rs. 103-8-0 which includes the sum for the wheels kindly sent -by Mrs. Petit. - -Though local cotton was secured for the work, it proved too bad for -beginners. A new method therefore was introduced to improve the local -cotton, which not only helped the work but also provided work for a few -more persons. Raw cotton was secured and the dirt and the dry leaves in -it were carefully removed before it was ginned. The rate for this work -was fixed at one pice per lb. Any old man who did this work got an -opportunity of earning one anna a day, by cleaning 4 lbs. of raw -cotton. After it was thus cleaned, it was ginned with a hand-gin which -gave work to some women who ginned, at the rate of one anna per 10 lbs. -One woman could thus earn 2 as. and 6 pies each day. This ginned cotton -was then cleaned by a _pinjari_ who charged at the rate of one anna per -pound and earned about 8 as. per day. It would have been better and -easier too, if cotton had been purchased from the mills, but as this -cleaning process of the local cotton provided work for a few workers, it -was thought the more desirable in these days. A major portion of these -cleaning charges is however made up by the sale of cotton seed secured -after ginning. The following statement will show the expenses incurred -for this and the price of raw cotton for every 60 lbs. - - RS. A. P. - - Price of 60 lbs. of raw cotton @ - 20 Rs. a patia (240 lbs.). 5--0--0 - - Removal of dirt, waste and dry - leaves @ 1 pice per pound 0-15--0 - - Ginning of 52 lbs. of raw clean - cotton @ 1 an. per 10 lbs. 0--5--3 - - Cleaning the Lint (17 lbs.) by a - pinjari @ 1 Anna per lb. 1--1--0 - -------- - Total 7--4--3 - - Deduct price of cotton seed 35 lbs. - @ 20 lbs. per Re. 1-12--0 - -------- - Net charges for 17 lbs. of clean - cotton 5--9--3 - -Thus the cost of one pound of cotton comes to 5 as. and 3 pies only. The -proportion of waste viz. 8 lbs. in 60 lbs. of raw cotton is too high and -could be avoided by securing better and cleaner cotton. - -There are at present 29 wheels going and there is still a great demand -for wheels. But the funds being limited, more wheels could not be -prepared and provided. Spinning is done by those who absolutely knew -nothing about it previously. Consequently the yarn is still of an -inferior sort. It is improving day by day but if a competent teacher -could be secured, it would improve rapidly. Amongst the spinners, some -are full-time workers and others are leisure-time workers. - -About two lbs. of yarn are now prepared every day and the quantity will -increase as the spinners get used to the work. The rate for spinning is -fixed at 6 as. a lb., though many workers complain that it is not -enough. As the yarn sent for sale realised a price of As. 12 a pound, -the spinning charges could not be increased without a loss. Every lb. of -yarn requires Annas 11 pies 3 for expenses, as 0-5-3 for cotton and -0-6-0 for spinning. Thus every lb. leaves a profit of 9 pies only. The -establishment and other charges are not calculated. With the present -rate of spinning at 6 as. a lb., one spinner earns 3 as. per day by -spinning 20 to 24 tolas, more earn 2 as. a day by spinning 15 tolas and -the rest 1-1/2 as. a day for 10 tolas, the beginners excluded. The more -the spinner is used to the work, the more he will earn. - -An attempt was made to prepare cloth out of the yarn and three and a -half lbs. of yarn were given to a weaver for weaving. He however charged -an exorbitant rate for weaving. He prepared nine and a half yards of -cloth and charged Rs. 3-9 for it, practically 1 rupee a lb. The cloth -cost Rs. 6-0-6 and was sold at Rs. 6-3-0, with a profit of as. 2 and -pies 6 only. To obviate the difficulty about weaving, a separate loom -with one teacher to teach weaving to local persons is urgently required. -Many local people wish to learn this art. A separate loom will reduce -the cost of the cloth prepared on it below the prevailing market rate. -About 6 lbs. of yarn are given to different weavers to ascertain the -exact charges, but all this difficulty can only be removed by having a -special loom. - -When there was a shortage of cotton and the workers had no work, wool -was introduced for spinning till cotton was ready. This work was -willingly taken up by the Dhangar. They were however required to spin -finer thread of wool than they usually prepared. They took some time to -pick up the work, and now there are 10 wool spinners working fine -thread. They are also paid at 6 as. a lb. for spinning. Wool worth -Rs. 31 @ 2 lbs. a rupee was purchased, and though the cotton was ready, the -wool spinning was continued by starting a separate department, as the -Dhangars readily took up the work. The whole process of cleaning the -wool is also done by the Dhangar women, who get an extra anna per lb. -for it. The sorting of wool is carefully looked to. The majority of wool -spinners use their own spinning wheels but a few are now asking for the -improved wheel for preparing finer threads. - -Dhangar weavers being locally available blankets after the Pandharpur -and Dawangiri pattern are being prepared from this finer thread and -different designs have been suggested to them. The Dhangars being a -stubborn race do not readily adopt the new improvement. But this work -has set them to work up new designs of blankets which will permanently -help them in their own profession. They now require a broader and -improved loom and instruction in colouring wool. Efforts are made to -secure a clever full time weaver who will introduce a better method of -weaving. Two blankets were prepared and sold at cost price, one for -Rs. 5-13-6 and the other for Rs. 6-6-0. Orders are being received for -blankets now, but to continue the work would require some funds. - -To keep so many persons working is not only an ideal form of famine -relief, but a means to promote village industries, and remove the -demoralising effects of successive famines. Thus stands the work of -about one month. It now requires an improved handloom, a good teacher, a -special loom for wool, more spinning wheels (which the neighbouring -villagers are also demanding) and many other things. The work is going -on vigorously and it is hoped will not be allowed to suffer for want of -funds. - - _Y. I.--11th May 1921._ - - - - -THE POTENCY OF THE SPINNING-WHEEL - - -No amount of human ingenuity can manage to distribute water over the -whole land, as a shower of rain can. No irrigation department, no rules -of precedence, no inspection and no water-cess. Every thing is done with -an ease and a gentleness that by their very perfection evade notice. The -spinning-wheel, too, has got the same power of distributing work and -wealth in millions of houses in the simplest way imaginable. Those of us -who do not know what it is to earn a livelihood by the sweat of one's -brow, may consider the three annas a day as a pittance beneath the -consideration of any man. They do not know that even in these days of -high prices, there are districts in India where even three annas a day -would be a boon to the poor. But we must not consider the question of -the spinning-wheel merely from the point of individual earnings. The -spinning-wheel is a force in national regeneration. If we wish for real -Swaraj, we must achieve economic independence. Boycott of foreign cloth -is its negative aspect. For this we must produce cloth sufficient to -clothe the country. This can only be done by hand-spinning. All the -mills that we have got, will not be able together to cope with the -situation. If all rush for the thin mill-made cloth, it will rise in -price beyond the capacity of the poor, and the experience of 1907-08 -will be repeated. Moreover, the cloth best suited for the three seasons -of India is _Khadi_. Those who have used _Khadi_ during this summer, -have come to realise, that after the soft clean touch of _Khadi_ it is -impossible to use sticky Malmal or twills. _Khadi_ can enable its wearer -to withstand the cold of an average winter as even wool cannot. The -climate of India demands that clothes be washed as often as possible. -Only _Khadi_ can stand this constant wash. _Khadi_ was once the dress of -the nation at large. One must see to believe how venerable the old -Patels and Deshmukhs looked when dressed in home-spun _Khadi_. There are -instances of whole villages taking a legitimate pride in the fact that -they had to import nothing but salt in the whole round of the six -seasons. With such conditions, there could be no drain, no exploitation -and therefore no Para-raj. A little village could make terms with the -rulers of the land consistent with its self-respect, dignity and -independence. Is our love of luxury so inveterate, that we cannot -control it even for the sake of Swaraj? - - _Y. I.--6th July 1921._ - - - - -THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - - -[A certain correspondent from Sindh writing to Mahatma Gandhi puts the -question, "Will the spinning wheel solve the problem of India's poverty? -If it will, how?" Here is his answer.] - -I am more than ever convinced that without the spinning wheel the -problem of India's poverty cannot be solved. Millions of India's -peasants starve for want of supplementary occupation. If they have -spinning to add to their slender resources, they can fight successfully -against pauperism and famine. Mills cannot solve the problem. Only -hand-spinning--and nothing else--can. When India was forced to give up -hand-spinning, she had no other occupation in return. Imagine what would -happen to a man who found himself suddenly deprived of a quarter of his -bare livelihood. Over eighty-five percent of Her population have more -than a quarter of their time lying idle. And, therefore, even apart from -the terrible drain rightly pointed out by the Grand Old Man of India, -she has steadily grown poorer because of this enforced idleness. The -problem is how to utilise these billions of hours of the nation without -disturbing the rest. Restoration of the spinning wheel is the only -possible answer. This has nothing to do with my special views on -machinery or with the boycott of foreign goods in general, India is -likely to accept the answer in full during this year. It is madness to -tinker with the problem. I am writing this in Puri in front of the -murmuring waves. The picture of the crowd of men, women, and children, -with their fleshless ribs under the very shadow of Jagannath, haunts me. -If I had the power, I would suspend every other activity in schools, and -colleges, and everywhere else, and popularise spinning; prepare out of -these lads and lasses spinning teachers: inspire every carpenter to -prepare spinning wheels; and ask the teachers to take these life-going -machines to every home, and teach them spinning. If I had the power, I -would stop an ounce of cotton from being exported and would have it -turned into yarn in these homes. I would dot India with depots for -receiving this yarn and distributing it among weavers. Given sufficient -steady and trained workers, I would undertake to drive pauperism out of -India during this year. This undoubtedly requires a change in the angle -of vision and in the national taste. I regard the Reforms and everything -else in the nature of opiates to deaden our conscience. We must refuse -to wait for generations to furnish us with a patient solution of a -problem which is ever-growing in seriousness. Nature knows no mercy in -dealing stern justice. If we do not wake up before long, we shall be -wiped out of existence. I invite the sceptics to visit Orissa, penetrate -its villages, and find out for themselves where India stands. They will -then believe with me that to possess, or to wear, an ounce of foreign -cloth is a crime against India and humanity. I am able to restrain -myself from committing suicide by starvation, only because I have faith -in India's awakening, and her ability to put herself on the way to -freedom from this desolating pauperism. Without faith in such a -possibility, I should cease to take interest in living. I invite the -questioner, and every other intelligent lover of his country, to take -part in this privileged national service in making spinning universal by -introducing it in every home, and make it profitable for the nation by -helping to bring about a complete boycott of foreign cloth during this -year. I have finished the questions and endeavoured to answer them. The -most important from the practical stand-point was the one regarding -spinning. I hope, I have demonstrated the necessity of home-spinning as -the only means of dealing with India's poverty. I know, however, that -innumerable difficulties face a worker in putting the doctrine into -execution. The most difficult, perhaps, is that of getting a proper -wheel. Save in the Punjab where the art is still alive, the difficulty -is very real. The carpenters have forgotten the construction and the -innocent workers are at their wit's end. The chief thing undoubtedly, -therefore, is for the worker to make himself acquainted with the art and -the handling of spinning wheels. I lay down some simple tests for -testing them. No machine that fails to satisfy the tests should be -accepted or distributed. - - (1) The wheel must turn easily, freely, and noiselessly. - - (2) The turning handle must be rigidly fixed to the axle. - - (3) The post must be properly driven home and joints - well-fixed. - - (4) The spindle must turn noiselessly and without a throb in - its holders. Jarring sound cannot be avoided unless the - holders are made of knit straw as in the Punjab, or of tough - leather. - - (5) No machine is properly made unless it manufactures in the - hands of a practised spinner at least 2-1/2 tolas of even and - properly twisted yarn of six counts in an hour. I know a - youngster, who has not had more than perhaps three months' - practice, having been able to spin 2-1/2 tolas of the above - quality of yarn in 35 minutes. No machine should be given - until it has been worked at least full one hour in the manner - suggested and found satisfactory. - - _Y. I.--6th April 1921._ - - - - -THE SPINNING WHEEL - - -[On February 15, 1922, Mahatma Gandhi has addressed the following letter -to Sir Daniel Hamilton from Bardoli on the Spinning Wheel.] - -DEAR SIR, - -Mr. Hodge writes to me to say that you would like to have an hour's chat -with me, and he has suggested that I should open the ground which I -gladly do. I will not take up your time by trying to interest you in any -other activity of mine except the spinning wheel. Of all my outward -activities, I do believe that the spinning wheel is of the most -permanent and the most beneficial. I have abundant proof now to support -my statement that the spinning wheel will solve the problem of economic -distress in millions of India's homes, and it constitutes an effective -insurance, against famines. - -You know the great Scientist Dr. P. C. Ray, but you may not know that he -has also become an enthusiast on behalf of the spinning wheel. India -does not need to be industrialized in the modern sense of the term. It -has 7,50,000 villages scattered over a vast area 1,900 miles long, 1,500 -miles broad. The people are rooted to the soil, and the vast majority -are living a hand-to-mouth life. Whatever may be said to the contrary, -having travelled throughout the length and breadth of the land with eyes -open, and having mixed with millions, there can be no doubt that -pauperism is growing. There is no doubt also that the millions are -living in enforced idleness for at least 4 months in the year. -Agriculture does not need revolutionary changes. The Indian peasant -requires a supplementary industry. The most natural is the introduction -of the spinning wheel, not the hand-loom. The latter cannot be -introduced in every home, whereas the former can, and it used to be so -even a century ago. It was driven out not by economic pressure but by -force deliberately used as can be proved from authentic records. The -restoration, therefore, of the spinning wheel solves the economic -problem of India at a stroke. I know that you are a lover of India, that -you are deeply interested in the economic and moral uplift of my -country. I know too that you have great influence. I would like to -enlist it on behalf of the spinning wheel. It is the most effective -force for introducing successful Co-Operative Societies. Without honest -co-operation of the millions, the enterprise can never be successful, -and as it is already proving a means of weaning thousands of women from -a life of shame, it is as moral an instrument as it is economic. - -I hope you will not allow yourself to be prejudiced by anything you -might have heard about my strange views about machinery. I have nothing -to say against the development of any other industry in India by means -of machinery but I do say that to supply India with cloth manufactured -either outside or inside through gigantic mills is an economic blunder -of the first magnitude just as it would be to supply cheap bread -through huge bakeries established in the chief centres in India and to -destroy the family stove. - - Yours faithfully, - - M. K. GANDHI. - - - - -APPENDICES - -BY - -MAGANLAL K. GANDHI - - - - -I - -A MODEL WEAVING-SCHOOL - - -All the external activities of Satyagrahashram in connection with -Swadeshi have for some time now been taken over by the Gujarat -Provincial Congress Committee. People, who are in need of or wish to -know anything about ginning-wheels, spinning-wheels, looms and Khadi, -are requested to correspond with the Secretary of the Khadi department -of that Committee. The Ashram now only conducts a weaving-school, which -teaches all the processes from ginning right up to weaving. The boys of -the Ashram school are at present taking the full course of instruction -here, and we have not the room to take up students from outside. Some -description of the work done is given here in the hope, that it may -perhaps furnish suggestions to outside students and to schools desirous -of having spinning-classes attached to them. - -Forty-nine spinning wheels are here regularly at work, over and above -twenty-five others which are reserved for beginners. All these are -worked three to six hours per day. Some are worked for even seven or -eight hours. After a month's training, a friend worked twelve to -fourteen hours daily for a number of days and thus proved the -possibility of earning three annas a day. Another, a sister, spun nine -to ten hours daily for some days after finishing her round of domestic -business. In a month and a half, she had spun enough to get _sadlas_ and -other cloth woven out of yarn spun by herself, and actually began -wearing these things. She is now-a-days spinning at the rate of eight -hours a day. One day there was something wrong with this lady's -_rentia_. She referred the matter to the present writer who set it -right. But she was not satisfied. She complained again, and again was -the _rentia_ operated upon. But the wheel apparently suffered from some -occult malady, which she was at a loss to diagnose. Every time its -spinning power would get enfeebled. At last the poor lady lost all -patience and was almost ready to weep. This was reported to me, and this -time I examined the wheel very critically and effected a perfect cure. -It now moved merrily, and merrily did the sister proceed with her work. -It is very desirable that all the wheels in a spinning-class be kept in -a perfect condition. When that is the case, the spinner does not tire -and works cheerfully and speedily. Our class is attended by five ladies, -who spin five or six hours every day, and by twenty-three students of -the Ashram school, of whom eighteen are boys and five are girls. The -conduct of this class is not an easy job. Their spirits are in continual -need of cheering. Some of them spin very rapidly. But sometimes there is -a grievous attack of head-ache, at other times the still more grievous -attack of idleness. Sometimes the hand is fatigued, at other times the -wheel gets out of repair. - -We are now replacing the thick by a thin spindle. It is true that with -the slightest interference or rough handling, this thin spindle bends -and begins to wobble. But it makes the movement of the wheel very smooth -and easy, and also adds to its speed, as the revolutions are doubled -from the fifty of the thick spindle to a hundred in the thin spindle -following from one revolution of the large wheel. The doubling of -revolutions does not mean a double output, but there is certainly a -considerable increase. With the thick spindle, the wheel must go through -8 or 10 revolutions for the drawing and winding of one length of yarn; -with the thin spindle, the revolutions of the wheel needed for that -purpose are reduced to 4 or 5. Hence with the thin spindle, there is an -economy of labour. The speed of drawing the yarn by the hand is clearly -limited, so that 200 or 300 revolutions of the spindle instead of 100 -would not double or treble the speed or the output. Advanced students -draw and wind two feet to two feet and a half of yarn every five -seconds. This comes to 8 to 10 yards a minute. If the sliver is good and -the student in a spinning-mood, there is less breakage of yarn. Even -considering the time lost on account of breakage and joining, some -students are easily able to spin 400 to 500 yards of yarn of about 12 -counts, fit for warp. This approximates to the speed of a mill spindle, -and is therefore quite satisfactory. When the work is over, the student -removes the spindle from the wheel and keeps it in good preservation. -Yet accidents do occur. The class master must know how to repair a -spindle which has thus gone wrong. He must also know how to put the -wheel in good working order. The string which makes the spindle revolve -often breaks, but if it is well-twisted, treated with wax, and then -rubbed well with a piece of cloth, it becomes more durable and lasts for -a number of days. - -The students generally like to work on the _rentia_. But the moment it -gets a little wrong and cannot be soon corrected, they rise and flee. -Not only the beginners but even advanced scholars are sometimes -confused, when called upon to set right such a simple machine as the -spinning-wheel. A veteran leader who set the non-co-operating students -of engineering at work upon the spinning-wheel, made the remark that -English education has incapacitated our young men. It was with great -pain that he said this. And it is the simple truth of the matter. We can -clearly see, that as a result of this education, we have not only lost -the power of our hands and feet, but we also lack in patience and -perseverance. We cannot bear to take the trouble of correcting anything -that is wrong. Newspaper leader-writers question the educative value of -spinning and doubt its efficacy in driving away poverty from our midst. -Their doubts would vanish if ever they tried and saw for themselves what -children gain from the spinning-wheel. But these writers are themselves -the product of English education. To expect them to be patient, is to -forget the character of the discipline to which they have been subject. -There is no better test than the spinning-wheel, if we wish to -ascertain whether our children are educated in the real and the proper -sense of that term. - -Many people still question the economic value of hand spinning. But I -believe that the results of our experiments may perhaps lead them to -reconsider their views. I will here put down the statistics of our own -class. Among our students there are five playful children, who spin only -when the spirit possesses them. But all of them spin good yarn fit for -warp. Hardly any spin yarn below 10 counts. Many spin yarn of about 15 -counts. Now-a-days the boys are giving four hours to spinning. Formerly -they used to work six hours daily, but then there was a tendency to -occasional slackness. Now we have ruled that when once a student has -spun a length of 1000 yards, he may be allowed to leave the spinning -class, and learn carding etc. This arrangement has had excellent -efforts. All spin without losing a moment and spin 1000 yards in two to -four hours according to the skill acquired. And the yarn thus produced -is pretty uniform, well twisted, and fit for warp. We have fixed a round -wire frame on the axle of the wheel just near the handle, with a -circumference of 4 feet. This frame is used for opening the cone into a -hank. 750 revolutions of this mean a thousand yards of yarn. Most -students count the revolutions, while they are moving the frame, and -hence do not take much additional time for calculations. Some are not -able to practice this, and they count the length after they have -prepared the hank. - -1000 yards of yarn of six counts weigh 8 _tolas_. (840 yards make a -hank. If six such hanks weigh a pound, the yarn is of 6 counts. Hence -840 yards of six count of yarn weigh 6-2/3 _tolas_.) 4 annas is a quite -proper wage for spinning one pound of six-count yarn of a standard -quality. This means a wage of nine pies and a half for spinning 8 -_tolas_. But most of our students spin yarn of 12 to 15 counts, and even -finer. And this is quite good and fit for weaving. The wage for a -thousand yards of finer yarn must be proportionately higher; as the -finer the yarn, the greater the number of twists to be given to it. -Twelve-count yarn requires nearly half as much twisting again as -six-count yarn. Hence the wage of a thousand yards of twelve-count yarn -must be half as much again as that of the same length of six-count yarn. -But this proportionately higher wage makes the hand-spun yarn much -dearer than the mill-made yarn of the same count. If we take 8 and 12 -annas to be the wage for spinning a pound of yarn of 12 and 16 counts -respectively, the wage for spinning a length of 1000 yards of the same -counts will be 10 or 11 pies. One student spins this amount in 2 hours, -several in 3 hours and the rest in 4. - -On the last _Amavasya_ it was twenty two days since the students set -regularly to work after the _vaishaka_ vacation. Deducting three -holidays on Sundays and three half-holidays on Wednesdays, we get -seventeen and a half working days. There was an average attendance of -twenty two students out of twenty three. Twenty two students spun in -seventeen days and a half twenty four _shers_ and a half of yarn of -about fourteen counts. If we take ten annas to be the average wage for -spinning a _sher_, this comes to fifteen rupees and four annas. This is -exclusive of Rs. 1-11-0 which is the wage of 18 pounds of cotton carded -and made into slivers by one student in 12 days, calculated at an anna -and a half per pound. It is also exclusive of the extra work put in by -students on five or six days after finishing their daily quota of 1000 -yds. of yarn by way of carding and opening yarn for weaving tapes and -carpets. These students gave some of their private time also to this -work. - -There is no doubt, that the figures will mount higher when the students -acquire the habit of methodical work. But whatever the pecuniary value -of their work might be, method in work itself will be an acquisition -beyond all price. - -So much for the spinning department. I hope to be able to deal with the -weaving department on another occasion. - - _Y. I.--21st July 1921_. - - - - -SPINNING DEPARTMENT - - -I should like to add a few more facts about the spinning department, -before I come to weaving. - -In _Ashadha_ the students were more energetic than before. The number of -regular students was 21, and these in 23 working days (there being six -holidays in the month) spun 30 pounds and 24 _tolas_ of yarn of about 12 -counts on the average, fit for warp. At ten annas a pound, this means a -wage of Rs. 19-2-0. The total number of hours of spinning was 1337. At 4 -hours a day it should have been 1932 (23 number of days × 21 number of -students × 4). This deficiency is not due to idleness, nor to headache. -Complaints of idleness have now quite ceased. And students now -understand that headache may prevent one from reading or working sums -but not from spinning. They have also realised that if the arms are -fatigued by fetching water or swimming, there is nothing like spinning -for removing the fatigue. The thing is that those students who have -mastered spinning were engaged in carding and other process. If full -time had been given to spinning, we would have turned out a -proportionately bigger quantity of yarn. - -The spinning power of the students is increasing every day. The student -who spun 7 _tolas_ an hour during the Satyagraha week is now no longer a -prodigy and others are fast overtaking him. One day a girl spun 9 -_tolas_ of uniform and well-twisted 12-count yarn in 6 hours. At the -above rate this means a wage of 2 annas 3 pies. For 8 hours therefore -the wage would be 3 annas, for 12 hours 4 annas 6 pies, for 14 hours 5 -annas 3 pies. But it is hardly necessary to emphasise the pecuniary -value of the work, so far as schools are concerned. The point is that by -constituting spinning as a permanent part of our school curricula we -provide manual training of the highest kind and at the same time prepare -for the re-advent of a day when spinning will be as much a part of our -domestic economy as say cooking. - - _Y. I.--11th Aug. '21_. - - - - -THE ADVANTAGE OF THE THIN SPINDLE - - -Since we introduced the thin Spindle, we have been keeping a number of -them in reserve. When a student has his spindle bent, it is not -corrected there and then but he is at once given one of the spare good -ones, so there is no delay. Afterwards all the spindles that have gone -wrong are collected and corrected together. - -The _sadi_, i.e. the wrapping on the spindle which serves as a pulley, -is often cut by itself and has sometimes to be cut off in order to -correct the spindle. A new _sadi_ has to be wrapped and for this a -bottle of thick gum is kept ready at hand. It must be made of fine -strong yarn, and be wrapped very tight. If it is loose, the string which -revolves the spindle (_mala_) sinks in it and cuts it asunder, and at -once the spindle stops. If the _sadi_ is made of coarse yarn, it -becomes rough, and so the _mala_ does not run smoothly, and the spindle -throbs and causes breakage of the yarn while it is being spun. - -Pairs of _chamarakhan_ (leather-bearing) also are kept in reserve. When -these become too soft by an excess of oiling or by rough handling, they -must be changed. Now-a-days we make them from raw hides and not from -leather or bamboo, and so they keep longer. - -Formerly a round piece of wood or cardboard used to serve as a rest for -winding the cone. But now we have substituted a piece of horn which is -more durable. Wax is kept in stock for treating the _mala_. Besides -these things we have a small oil-can, a pen-knife, a hammer, a chisel, -and a small anvil. - -The students bring the hank twisted hard in the shape of a stick. The -hank weighs two _tolas_, which is the standard weight of the sliver -provided. A bigger hank causes trouble while we open it, and the yarn is -spoilt. The yarn spun by each student is kept separate with his name -upon a wooden tag attached to it. Every student is asked to stick to -one particular count all along till he has spun out enough for a length -of warp; and then the yarn is sent to the weaving department. Every one -is anxious to see when his yarn is sent out for weaving. Three such -lengths of warp are being woven at present. About seven are ready -waiting to be woven. An eleven year old girl will soon get a piece 20 -yards long and 42 inches wide out of yarn spun by herself in the course -of three months. This will provide her with two suits of clothing of two -small _sadis_, 2 blouses and 2 petticoats. Her father had put in a pound -of yarn spun by himself, to finish up the piece, and in return for this, -she is going to spare a _dhoti_ for him too. She is as much pleased to -see the cloth woven from her own yarn as most girls would be to see -brocade. Two other girls have combined their stock of yarn and are daily -asking for it to be woven. Those students who have passed out from the -spinning class are engaged in other departments, and have not much time -to spare for spinning; so they work on holidays and prepare woof for -their own warps, which are waiting to be woven. So in the second month, -the spinning department is in full swing. - - _Y. I.--18th Aug. 1921._ - - - - -HAND-LOOMS - - -The working of the spinning class having been fully described in the -first two articles, the process next to be taken up is carding; but -having received a number of queries as to the working of hand-looms, I -propose to deal with this before going into intermediate processes. - -Questions are asked as to which will be the most useful loom for weaving -hand-spun yarn. Some want our opinion about the automatic looms; others -insist upon the necessity of inventing a new swift-working machine, -while still others ask for monetary help to prepare such after their own -designs. - -My humble but firm opinion is that the old pit-loom is the best, -especially for weaving hand-spun yarn. No doubt it is the slowest -working instrument but is the surest of all, and just as our old -spinning-wheel in spite of its being the slowest instrument is -absolutely capable of spinning out all the cotton that India produces -to-day, so the old pit-loom is perfectly capable of weaving out all the -yarn that India can produce by means of the spinning wheels and the -mills. - -This is not the time to enter into the figures in support of my -statement. I shall only try to show the usefulness of the pit-loom. The -fly-shuttle loom has its place in the sphere of home industry as well as -of the factory, but the automatic looms have no room in this industry. -Its drawbacks can only be realized by a study of the facts and figures -regarding concerns which employ such looms. People who newly take up -this industry should beware of flashy advertisements. They should not be -misled by professed calculations of the working of such looms. - -The fly-shuttle looms have varying adjustments. In the Muzzaffarpur -spinning and weaving exhibition held in May last, a party from this -school was present with its wheel and loom. Of all the fly-shuttle -looms exhibited, the one from this school was selected as the simplest -and lightest of all. It is all made of wood, with the exception of nails -and screws required for joining. The pickers are also made entirely of -wood. The shuttle and perns are home-made. Other looms had iron bars in -their boxes, were operated with foreign shuttles, and their perns were -unwieldy. Our loom is modelled upon a type of looms working in thousands -in the Madras Presidency. The whole loom with a wooden frame to fit on a -pit, with the exception of the shields and reed costs Rs. 45. These -latter things are not supplied, as there is no fixed standard of the -yarn to be used on it. - -I wish some public spirited person or firm will come forward in Madras -or elsewhere in that presidency and undertake to supply the fly-shuttle -loom as described above promptly and at reasonable rates. Any one -desirous of taking up this work may correspond with the head of the -_Khadi_ Department, Gujarat Provincial Congress Committee Ahmedabad. - -Thus far as regards the fly-shuttle looms. I suggest to new -manufacturers that they cannot do better than start with the old -fashioned pit-looms. It is our experience that on account of less -breakage of yarn, especially hand-spun yarn, the output of a pit-loom -almost equals and in some cases even exceeds that of the fly-shuttle -loom. In weaving broader width, however, the fly-shuttle is certainly -more convenient. And when the hand-spun yarn is of good test, it enjoys -a decided advantage over the old loom in point of swiftness. But we have -to remember that we have got to deal with hand-spun yarn which is not -likely to have a good test for some time to come. It is therefore that -the old loom is the safest and surest weaving instrument to go on with -for the present. - - _Y. I.--25th Aug. 1921._ - - - - -WHAT KIND OF LOOM? - - -Questions are asked as to the production of cloths in an old-fashioned -loom from handspun yarn. The experience in our school is, that a -well-practised worker weaves on a pit-loom one yard cloth of 30 inches -width and of fairly thick texture in one hour. Cloth of greater or -smaller width varies in proportion. Our fly-shuttle pit-loom has not -exceeded this figure in handspun yarn so far. When formerly we used -mill-made yarn, it yielded about half as much cloth again as the old -pit-loom. However in weaving _dhotiyans_ and _sadis_ from handspun as -well as mill-made yarn the flyshuttle is very handy. - -Then there is a question as to the necessity of beaming the yarn. We -believe, that where there is no question of room, beaming should be -dispensed with. Hand-loom weaving factories situated in thickly -populated towns where rates of house-rent are very high, have reason to -resort to beaming; but where space allows stretching of the yarn as -practised by the professional weavers, it is a time-saving method and is -artistic as well. There is an argument in favour of beaming that it -allows of the handling of warp as long as 200 or even 300 yards. But if -such length of handspun yarn can be prepared, it is equally easy, if not -easier, to stretch it in the old style. - - - - -SIZING HANDSPUN YARN - - -It is said, that the difficulty of sizing handspun yarn is a serious -handicap from which the movement suffers. As a matter of fact, the -method of sizing it should be no different from that of sizing mill-made -yarn. It is slipshod spinning which is at the bottom of this difficulty. -The best way out of it is to organise and improve the production of -handspun yarn. It is superstition to say that the yarn spun on the -_charkha_ cannot be strong and even. Where proper care is taken, it does -improve and even surpass mill-made yarn in some respects. Punjab and -Marwad, where spinning has been carried on from past times, have also to -improve their yarn. Not that the spinners there do not know their work, -but they as well as the merchants who purchase their yarn are careless -about the quality of the yarn turned out. Unless this work is taken up -by men imbued with the true Swadeshi spirit, the condition is not likely -to improve. The spinners should be visited at their work from time to -time, and proper instructions as to the required twist and test to be -given to the yarn should be imparted to them. The payment of a -reasonably higher wage than the present is another way of improving the -yarn. The wages we have arranged for our guidance are given below in the -form of a table. Where living is cheaper than in Gujarat, they can be -adjusted accordingly. The yarn having improved, the difficulty of sizing -will disappear. - -When a country weaver shows inability to weave hand-spun yarn, it means -that he cannot weave it in the same reed space as he uses for the -mill-made yarn. This is quite evident. The hand-spun yarn not being -even, it requires wider reed space. The table given below also shows the -number of ends of different counts to be drawn in an inch of a reed. -Then if the cloth to be woven is meant for shirting or coating and not -for _dhotiyan_ or _sadi_, and if the yarn has a good test, two to four -ends can be added to the number denoted in the table. - - Column headings: - - C: Count. - T: Approximate twist per inch. - R: Rounds on 4 feet hank frame. - - +---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+ - | | | | | | Number of | Number of | Rates of | - | | | Wage | | | ends in an | double | weaving per | - | C | Test.| per | T | R | inch of | ends in an | square yard. | - | | | pound. | | | reed. | inch. | Rs. A. P. | - +---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+ - | 6 | Warp | 0 4 0 | 10 | 96 | 24 to 28 | 18 to 22 | 0 4 0 | - | | | | | | | | | - | 6 | Weft | 0 3 0 | 8 | " | ... | ... | ... | - | | | | | | | | | - | 9 | Warp | 0 6 0 | 12 | 144 | 26 to 32 | 20 to 24 | 0 4 6 | - | | | | | | | | | - | 9 | Weft | 0 4 6 | 10 | " | ... | ... | ... | - | | | | | | | | | - |12 | Warp | 0 10 0 | 14 | 192 | 30 to 34 | 22 to 26 | 0 5 0 | - | | | | | | | | | - |12 | Weft | 0 8 0 | 12 | " | ... | ... | ... | - | | | | | | | | | - |16 | Warp | 0 12 0 | 16 | 256 | 34 to 38 | 24 to 28 | 0 5 6 | - | | | | | | | | | - |16 | Weft | 0 10 0 | 13 | " | ... | ... | ... | - | | | | | | | | | - |20 | Warp | 1 0 0 | 18 | 320 | 40 to 44 | 28 to 32 | 0 6 0 | - | | | | | | | | | - |20 | Weft | 0 13 0 | 15 | " | ... | ... | ... | - +---+------+--------+----+-----+------------+------------+--------------+ - -If the yarn is very weak and uneven, it should be woven with two ends in -warp as well as in weft. This will give a strong texture to the cloth, -making the process of weaving easy at the same time. The proportion in -this case of ends to be drawn in an inch of the reed space is also given -in the above table. If this course is adopted, heaps of handspun yarn -that have accumulated all over the country can be woven out without much -difficulty. - -As a fact, the method of sizing traditionally followed by the weavers -cannot be improved upon. Their selection of the sizing material is -appropriate to the climate, season and circumstances. For the most part -they use the staple corn. Jawari and maize being the cheapest are used -in many parts. In the rainy season, however, they use wheat flour as a -stronger sizing material to counteract the over-softening influence of -the moisture present in the air. In the Madras Presidency, a cereal -called _ragi_ with a yellowish flour is used for coarse counts, while -rice is used for finer counts. Rice and wheat are the best ingredients -for sizing. The proportion used is from 10 per cent required for fine -yarn to 20 per cent for coarse yarn. - -Different preparations of various sizing materials are as follow:-- - -_Wheat_: Weigh the warp first. Then according to its fineness or -coarseness, take fine wheat flour or _Menda_ from 10 to 20 per cent of -its weight, knead it well with water to form a thin paste, taking care -that no lump remains. Boil some water just enough to soak the warp, then -add the paste previously prepared and keep on stirring till the granules -are well-cooked and the whole substance is reduced to the form of thin -gruel. To every such preparation of one pound of flour, one ounce of -sesamum or sweet oil should be added. This will give softness and -smoothness to the threads of the warp and keep them from sticking to one -another. Cocoanut or castor oil is also used as a lubricant. Any of -these is good, except only that the castor oil will give a bad odour and -a dull colour to the warp. The size thus prepared is then slowly poured -on to the warp, which is kept folded on a gunny cloth or a clean slab. -The warp is beaten with both the hands, while the process of pouring is -going on, and when it is thoroughly saturated all over, it is spread out -in the open and brushed repeatedly in one direction, often bringing the -down side up till it gets dried. One or two or more persons according to -the length of the warp are engaged in brushing, while several others are -joining broken threads and shifting the sticks in the warp from one -lease to another. - -This is the most thorough of all the methods of sizing. The ends of -fibres lying loose on every thread of the warp are straightened, and -stuck fast round the thread by the process of brushing. The thread is -rendered smooth and strong like wire, and the work of weaving is made -all the easier by it. Thus swiftness in weaving is ensured. To master -this requires long practice but it is worth the while of every student -to do so. For an energetic youth about three hours' work under an expert -every morning for two months or so is sufficient. With two assistants or -more he will then be able to manage the brush-sizing himself without -the aid of an expert. A less active person will take four or six months' -practice. - -The preparation of size from jawari and maize flour is just the same as -from wheat flour, except that the flour of these cereals not being so -fine as wheat flour, a larger quantity is required in their case. - -Some people advise that wheat flour should be soaked for at least two -days before it is boiled with water. It is said that the adherent -quality of the flour is enhanced by this process. - -_Rice._ The preparation from rice is simpler still. The required -quantity of rice is boiled well with a quantity of water larger than -that used for ordinary cooking and is allowed to remain for 12 to 24 -hours. It is then strained through a piece of cloth tied over or into -the mouth of a large vessel, more water being added as required in the -process of straining. The strained matter is then reduced to consistent -thinness; then oil is added to it in proportion as described above. - -Rice is sometimes preferred to wheat, as it gives besides strength a -fine gloss to the warp. - -The thing to be borne in mind is that the yarn meant for preparing warp -must be made thoroughly absorbent beforehand. For this, all the hanks -must be connected in the form of one chain. It is then folded together, -placed into a big vessel, whether of earth or metal, containing water -enough to soak the yarn and then well pressed with both the feet for -some time. It is left in this condition for two or three days, during -which period it is beaten with a wooden club on a slab twice every day. -It should be remembered that, unless it is beaten, it does not soak -through for days. If it is not soaked well, it is incapable of absorbing -the sizing material, and is imperfectly sized. The cotton fibre has a -natural oily coating on it, which is removed by soaking it as described -before or by boiling it for some time. It does not become thoroughly -absorbent, till it is treated in this manner. After two or three days, -when the yarn is well soaked, the chain is opened out and dried in -shade, every hank being hung separately on a bamboo. Before it gets -completely dried, it is well shaken with both the hands twice or thrice, -so that the threads do not stick to one another. The Madrasi weavers are -used to pouring rice water (generally thrown away when the rice is -boiled) on the yarn, before it is dried out in the manner described -above. This gives greater strength to the yarn, and causes less breakage -in the process of winding and preparing it into warp. - -The other method of sizing resorted to by the weavers is called -hank-sizing. It is an easy process, and though not so efficient as -brush-sizing, it answers well if carefully performed. In this case the -yarn, before it is made up into a warp, is soaked, hank by hank, into -the size prepared from wheat or rice as described above, and after -pressing off the size a little from the hank with the thumb and a -finger, the hank, wet as it is, is wound up on a bobbin. The warp is -prepared immediately while the bobbin is wet, each thread drying on the -warping sticks as soon as another is drawn out. The warp thus prepared -is fit for weaving. - -We have tried hank-sizing in a weak solution of ordinary gum. It works -well in dry season, but makes the yarn moist in wet season on account of -its absorbent quality. - - - - -II - -THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE - - -Mr. Gandhi during his visit to Assam and Eastern Bengal has observed, -that the type of _charkha_ in use in those parts is deficient in many -ways. The same is perhaps the case in other provinces. As we believe -that the _charkha_ in the Satyagrahashram is a model of its kind, we -give below a diagram with measurements of all its parts with an -explanation of their relative functions. - -[Illustration] - -The rear base with mark _1_ is one foot 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and -3 inches high. - -The front base with mark _2_ is 9 inches long, 4 inches wide and 3 -inches high. - -The long piece which joins the two bases, marked _3_, is 3 feet long -(including joints), 3 inches wide and 2 inches high. - -The large uprights marked _4_ are 1 foot 6 inches long including joints, -2 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. They are fixed on the back base 9 -inches apart. The holes in which the axle rests are made 2 inches below -the top. These holes contain bearings of thin iron plates to secure easy -motion of the axle. The bearings are kept open at the top to allow -access of oil through a slanting hole bored on the outward sides of both -the uprights, one inch above the axle. - -The small uprights marked _5_ are 9 inches long with joints 1-1/2 inches -wide and 1-1/2 inches deep, with holes 4 inches below the top to contain -the leather bearings which bear the spindle. They are fixed 3 inches -apart on the front base and are connected together 2 inches above the -base with a piece of a wood of the same thickness. This joining piece -contains in the middle 2 sticks half an inch apart to regulate the -position of the _mala_ (the string which revolves the spindle) on the -spindle. - -Another piece marked _6_ and joined parallelly to the left upright is -meant to bear a hole for leather bearing when a thin spindle is to be -used. - -The drum or wheel consists of 8 planks such as the one marked _7_, each -being 2 feet long, 4 inches wide and 3/4 inch thick. They are divided in -two wings of 4 planks each, each containing two couples of planks joined -diametrically with a groove in the middle. - -Both the wings are nailed on to the wooden shaft marked _8_, its size -being 4-1/2 inches long and 4 inches diameter. - -Through the middle of this shaft passes a long round iron bar, which -serves as an axle. It is 19 inches long and half an inch thick. Its end, -where the handle is fixed is made square to ensure firmness of the -handle. - -A wooden washer one inch thick is fixed to the axle on either side of -the drum to avoid its contact with the uprights. - -The handle is shaped put of a wooden piece of 2 inches × 2 inches × -1-1/2 feet long. - -The reel noticed in the diagram between the drum and the handle is -composed of a wooden disc marked _9_ made out of 1 inch thick and 6 -inches square piece of wood. Six brackets made of galvanized wire of 10 -gauge radiate from the centre of the disc so as to make a circumference -of 4 feet. The brackets are fixed in the back of the disc with bent ends -and are further secured with small nails near the circumference of the -disc. - -A wire noose is fixed on the back base just below the reel to regulate -the yarn when wound up on the reel from a bobbin or directly from the -spindle. - -A 4 inches long bamboo pin is fixed in the inward side of the front base -parallelly to the long plank marked 3. It is meant to hold the bobbin -while opening out yarn from it. When the yarn is opened from the -spindle directly, it is held in the left hand with the point towards the -reel. The right hand is employed in turning the reel by the handle of -the _charkha_. - -The figure _10_, indicates the position of the spinner. - - - - -CORRECTIONS: - - - Page Original Correction - ---- -------- ---------- - vii Indian Economics 33 Indian Economics 34 - viii Hand Looms 140 Hand-Looms 140 - 7 and setting their manufactures and selling their manufactures - 10 as a miser uses his horde. as a miser uses his hoard. - 27 and left her coarse and felt her coarse - 28 organasing Swadeshi propaganda organising Swadeshi propaganda - 28 Every drop counts Swadeshi Every drop counts. Swadeshi - 32 from patroitic motives from patriotic motives - 34 expressed in this buelletin expressed in this bulletin - 35 being aginst the law being against the law - 36 the another does represent the author does represent - 40 utlise the idle hours utilise the idle hours - 44 It is needness to say It is needless to say - 46 more than his due And I more than his due. And I - 54 Shrimati Sarala Devi Choudhrani Shrimati Sarala Devi Chaudhrani - 57 bids fare to bear fruit. bids fair to bear fruit. - 69 earned As. 4 earned As. 4. - 69 he is a victim to-day. he is a victim to to-day. - 72 of 62·7 crores pounds of 62.7 crores pounds - 81 that he maufactures that he manufactures - 82 about literary trainning. about literary training. - 87 Mr, Amritlal Thakkar Mr. Amritlal Thakkar - 97 potent instrument, the spinning potent instrument the spinning - 102 who absolutely know nothing who absolutely knew nothing - 103 Rs. 3-9 for it practically Rs. 3-9 for it, practically - 104 about weaving, a separate room about weaving, a separate loom - 123 [missing] A MODEL I [new line] A MODEL - 132 will be an acpuisition will be an acquisition - 134 The students who spun [...] is The student who spun [...] is - 134 for 12 hours 4 annas 6pies for 12 hours 4 annas 6 pies - 136 and cuts it as under, and cuts it asunder, - 138 too suits of clothing two suits of clothing - 138 as most girl would be as most girls would be - 139 Y.I.--18th Aug. 1921. [Y. not in italics] - 142 of the hields of the shields - 142 costs Rs. 45 costs Rs. 45. - 142 Provincial Congress Commitee Provincial Congress Committee - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wheel of Fortune, by Mahatma Gandhi - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE *** - -***** This file should be named 41954-8.txt or 41954-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/9/5/41954/ - -Produced by sp1nd, ewkent and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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